Intersection of Lives (2026)

From March to October 2025, Strehlau created original digital drawings using the software Procreate, defining the characters, environments, composition, and dramaturgical framework. These drawings—along with photographs of New York City locations taken by the artist and manually retouched graphics—served as the visual foundation for the animation.

Between June and August 2026, Strehlau replaced all shots from the earlier version of the material, utilizing new AI-based tools. These tools provided greater control over the animation, character movement, and emotional expression. The artist also extended the film—from approximately six to ten minutes—allowing for deeper character psychology and more nuanced acting choices.

Throughout the production, Strehlau worked intensively, typically 12–16 hours per day, 6.5–7 days per week. The extreme workload and prolonged sedentary hours took a significant physical toll, contributing to a weight gain of approximately 20 kg (45 pounds), as he remained fully committed to realizing his artistic vision and achieving the intended quality of the animated film.

No live-action character performances were photographed. Instead, movement and performances were developed from inanimate images through an iterative image-to-video animation process under his direction.

Strehlau repeatedly prepared and refined detailed sets of instructions (often around 2,500 characters in length), specifying the mood, actions, facial expressions, gaze direction, gestures, emotional dynamics, props, costumes, lighting, timing, camera movements, framing, and narrative continuity. The generated sequences were treated as raw material rather than finished animation. Strehlau evaluated the results, discarded unsuccessful versions, refined instructions and source materials, and at times returned to his original drawings to begin the work anew.

For example, the Anijah Tomkins scene required an emotional progression from pleading and frustration to heartbreak, exhaustion, and withdrawal, with specific gestures and a static camera. Another sequence involved a controlled camera movement (a zoom-out) away from a television screen, revealing the figure of an elderly woman of Sara Mayewsky. Crucial to this was maintaining her posture, the positioning of her hands, the perspective of her concentration camp tattoo, the lighting, and spatial consistency.

Strehlau manually modified the images and animation sequences, selected specific segments, adjusted their duration and the relationships between adjacent shots, and established the film’s final structure, rhythm, transitions, and editing using Adobe Premiere Pro.

An interesting thought from Luc Besson, whom I met at 83rd Venice Film Festival: for him, AI is like a tiger – you need a whip to keep it under control…

Drawing and photo realistic – motion creation by human

 “Photorealistic dramatic scene inside a Brooklyn brownstone hallway. Anijah, a 35-year-old African-American woman, stands near the staircase confronting someone off-camera.

She begins emotionally charged, raising both hands as she tries to make her point. Her expression shows frustration, disappointment, and disbelief. She maintains direct eye contact with the unseen person. As she speaks, her emotions intensify. Her gestures become larger and more desperate. She repeatedly opens her hands toward the other person as if asking them to understand her. Her eyebrows tighten, her eyes become glossy, and her voice appears strained by emotion. “We are broke, but what do you know about that?” The conversation reaches a breaking point. Anijah shakes her head slightly. Her face crumples with hurt and frustration. Tears begin forming as she struggles to continue speaking. She briefly laughs through the pain in an emotionally overwhelmed, disbelieving way. Near the end, she realizes the conversation is going nowhere. Her energy collapses. Her shoulders drop. She looks away from the person for the first time. Hurt turns into resignation. In the final moments, Anijah turns her body away from the conversation and begins to walk off, emotionally exhausted and defeated. She wipes away tears, avoids eye contact, and leaves as if she can no longer continue the argument. Performance notes: pleading → frustration → heartbreak → emotional exhaustion → resignation → turning away and leaving. Camera: static camera, no push-in, no zoom, eye-level framing. Style: realistic feature-film drama, natural acting, authentic crying, subtle facial micro-expressions, cinematic interior lighting, ultra-photorealistic.”

Strehlau created the original drawings himself. The characters were either invented or inspired by the faces of people he knew or had seen—though their appearance underwent significant transformation during the drawing process.

For the character Anijah Tomkins, Strehlau—with his partner’s consent—incorporated elements of her physique and facial features. She is credited in the end titles under the name “Kochana” (Polish for “Beloved”). In creating the character of David, Strehlau used his own facial features.

The African-inspired abstract paintings and African-style mask displayed in the Tomkins family’s apartment were also created by Strehlau, drawing inspiration from African colors and motifs. The footage shown on the television screen is in the public domain.

The original screenplay, drawings, paintings (as modified by the artist), and photographs taken during location scouting in NYC served as the source material for the entire creative process. The author did not use the work of other artists as a starting point. Strehlau maintained full authorship and creative control over the animation process—from the selection and modification of the generated imagery to the final film edit.