Memory of Princess Mumbi

In 2093, filmmaker Kuve travels to the African kingdom of Umata, a coastal city made of treetop villages where neo-technologies have been outlawed. Kuve wants to make a documentary about the city’s revival since the Great War of the 2070s. There he meets local actress Mumbi. As the two work together, they quarrel over Kuve’s fondness for AI as Mumbi shows him the beauty in everyday life. But when the two fall in love, Mumbi reveals she is betrothed to the kingdom’s Prince. Director Damien Hauser’s deft use of AI to create a fully realised world previously only possible on a multi-million-dollar budget results in a multi-layered meditation on memory, loss and joy – with an emotional core that’s hardly artificial.