The story
On a deserted late-19th-century London street, in the rain, an aged clown sees himself in a puddle. The reflection pulls him into a packed circus where, before his act even begins, the audience rises and leaves in indifference.
He is left alone under a fading spotlight. When the rain dissolves his makeup and he looks up, he is no longer the Clown: he is Jeff, an ordinary man who picks up his suitcase and walks on. Still here.
Director’s statement
We all wear a mask. We put it on to face the world, to be seen, to be loved, and sometimes we no longer know how to take it off. Still Here comes from one simple question: what is left of us when the mask falls?
I chose a clown because he is the figure who makes others laugh while emptying out inside: applauded and, at the very same moment, alone. The rain does not punish him, it washes him. There is no backstage, no comforting reveal: when the makeup slips away there is no hero, only an ordinary man who picks up his suitcase and walks on. And yet he is still here.
I made the film entirely with generative AI tools, but every choice, the story, the rhythm, the silence, water as an agent, is mine. The technology was the pencil; the gaze is human.
Technical specs
- Type: experimental short
- Runtime: 2 min 11 s
- Completed: June 12, 2026
- Format: digital
- Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
- Color: color
- Language: English
- Written, directed and produced by: Alessio Galfo
- Country: Italy
How it was made
No camera, no set. Every shot of Still Here was directed through writing: reference frames for the character and the locations, video generation guided by first and last frames, then editing and music.
Tools
- Reference images: Nano Banana Pro
- Video generation: Veo 3.1 in Google Flow
- Music: Suno
- Editing: Adobe Premiere
