Government of Children II invited numerous children from Romania and elsewhere, from diverse categories, to envisage the next century of their societies. The core of Government of Children II is to empower children to share their visions with regard to solving real-world problems in the short, medium and long term. How do they perceive the core-problems of our society? What potential solutions would they envisage? How would they act as young leaders? The initiative is a personal and collective incursion into the daring potential futures of our contemporary world, visualized with state of the art virtual technologies.

As a background of the concept, the project’s idea was initiated in 2017. The first feature of the franchise, Government of Children I, was launched in 2019 as the first Romanian 3D documentary, followed by multi-awarded virtual reality extensions such as Tangible Utopias: Urban Futurism (supported by AFCN, nominated at the European Metaverse Awards, winner of GoEast Open Frame Award, winner of Stereopsia). The project was invited at TEDxBoldandBrilliant. The success of the artistic project attracted financing in order to be continued and the current film has an increased complexity.

The current feature-length animated documentary, brings novelty in numerous fields through the methodology, the high-end computer-generated visualizations of the children’s visions created by brilliant creatives. The film is also using, for the first time, machine learning technologies marked explicitly, for depicting shorter visions. 

“This project is in many ways a form of “infinite cinema”, a concept I have coined in my PhD thesis back in 2019. A film that can be multiplied and expanded ad infinitum, as a perpetuum mobile, without losing its core essence. For the current film we had numerous workshops with the invited children, aiming to design a multitude of captivating holistic futures: future habitats, transportation means. Our long-term goal is to be inspired by these daring futures and bring them to life one day”, Ioana Mischie said in a statement. She created the concept in 2017, during her Fulbright grant at USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, California, and continued nationally as a UNATC PhD arts-based research project and then as a film.

“In 1930s Nikola Tesla declared “I would like to photograph thoughts”, advocating for a new machine. This “machine” exists today in the form of audio-visual mediums, especially when accelerated by machine learning techniques. In the current film, we photograph collective thoughts.” added Ioana Mischie as a founder of the transmedia storytelling field in Romania.

Cinematography-wise, the film was signed by the acclaimed Tudor Lucaciu RSC and Zsolt Magyari, Stereographer Ltd from Budapest. The virtual visualizations of the future worlds were art directed by Alexandru Pop, and brought to life by numerous 3D artists. The editing of the film is signed by Cristian Vieriu, while the sound is facilitated by Ina Bozdog.

The project is produced by Studioset, a multi-awarded production and post-production studio and Storyscapes, a Romanian association focusing on transmedia and groundbreaking concepts. The global producer is Ioana Mischie, while Sorin Baican is the national producer and Irina Petrescu is executive producer. 

Research-wise, the project’s innovation inspired numerous articles in the field of audio-visual practices, via collaborations with UNATC (The National University of Theatre and Film “I.L.Caragiale”), University of Southern California or Arizona University. 

The film was supported by The National Film Fund (CNC) and then the financing scheme was gradually joined by McCann Ericksson, Altex, Carat Romania, CKBB Media Services, Enel, Nhood. The team is also grateful for the kind support of Women in Immersive Technologies.   

The filming took place in September 2022, with extensions throughout the year. Extensions of the film were developed in countries on multiple continents. The public launch of the current film will take place in 2024.

The franchise remains Romania’s first major transmedia project, one of the world’s first ongoing visionary archives focussing on civic imagination, in the process of being expanded gradually in more communities worldwide.