Chongqing- At 12:00 on February 2, 2026, after an intense 99-hour creation challenge, ARTIFICIAL PERFORMANCE—a short film co-produced by Chongqing’s AIGC team DAMU PICTURES and German-Italian director Claudio D’Attis—was officially completed and submitted to compete in the 99FIRE-FILMS AWARD, a major German short film competition.

The competition released its 2026 annual theme at 09:00 on January 29: “2035: THE HUMAN STORY”, requiring participants to complete a 99-second short film within 99 hours. ARTIFICIAL PERFORMANCE builds a cinematic fable spanning millennia through three time-space slices—AD 33, 1968, and 2035—constructing an audiovisual allegory that crosses a thousand years.

According to the production team, during the co-production process, director Claudio D’Attis, who was based in Germany, provided the screenplay, musical concepts, a cast list, and a single style reference image to set the creative tone. Full responsibility for image generation and visual execution was entrusted to Damu Pictures’ production team in China, which completed the film’s visual construction from inception to completion.

Leveraging cutting-edge AIGC technologies, the team expanded the director’s reference image into vivid visual worlds: the sand and wind of AD 33, the neon-soaked rainy night of 1968, and the future code of 2035. Within the competition’s 99-hour time limit, the Chinese team and the director maintained a round-the-clock, relay-style collaboration across China and Germany, engaging in high-intensity real-time coordination and ultimately delivering the finished work before the deadline.

It is also understood that Damu Pictures has consistently promoted deeper connections between Chongqing and the international film and television industry since 2016.

The company has helped establish a sister-festival partnership between the China·Chongqing Science and Technology Film Week and Italy’s Siena Terra International Film Festival, organized delegations to appear at the Venice International Film Festival to present Chongqing’s science and technology film facilities, and invited leading figures from the Italian film industry to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Countries Film Festival, consistently remaining at the forefront of the industry’s international exchange.

At present, Damu Pictures is accelerating its pipeline of international IPs, including the suspense film CUCIBOCCA, produced by U.S.-based Melograno Films and directed by Egidio Coccimiglio, as well as the sci-fi film The Eternal Bound, directed by Louis Nero, a long-serving juror for Italy’s David di Donatello Awards.