SWiM

Film Director's Statement

This movie is clearly about AI, but also about modern art of all genres, the potential perils of its appreciation, and....

…no matter how unconventional, it offers a delightful take on theology's Trinity doctrine. Of course, it’s tongue-in-cheek. In addition to constructivism, surrealism, abstract and kinetic art, a significant inspiration for the picaresque story was Samuel Beckett and his theater of the absurd. Goethe’s immortal “Faust” contributed another layer of depth. Not to forget Philip K. Dick’s classic sci-fi. And despite its chaotic and absurd nature, the narrative follows its own peculiar logic, becoming another facet of our artspace-time continuum concept.
The film picks up where CLiMB left off, with the demolition of the old model Maggie Tenzing, the art-loving but plain mountain droid. However, no robot can truly be dead. As Robert, the lead scientist at the CIT (Cupertino Institute of Technology, Lorenz School of Probabilities), decodes the data from her salvaged database, the downloaded dreams seamlessly morph and blend together.
The unlikely trinity of characters — Maggie, Blu and Robert — embark on a colorful journey through various realities in pursuit of Maggie’s true origins as AI. The theology aspect takes here a Pythonesque turn, yet it remains faithful to the original concept of a creator, a progeny, and the mighty energy that binds them together.
Robert, the AI manager, vlogs about the unexpected nuances in Maggie’s yet-again-rescued database. The art-seeking, yet perpetually troubled mountain droid grapples with the complexity of the art she encounters, delving into Beckett, Kafka, and even attempting her own artistic creations. The Blue Morpho menelaus butterfly embodies the destructive Mephisto spirit, demolishing everything in its path while simultaneously paving the way for a new beginning. The dialectic unity of opposites, a dualistic paradigm of struggle between creation and destruction, is symbolized by the heated interaction of these characters, with a total morph twist this time. Especially when some unforeseen consequences of the Lorenz butterfly effect are involved; a seemingly insignificant occurrence cascades through the pursuit of an alternative reality, where surrealism becomes the norm, but physical existence bounces back at any moment.
The short film extended well beyond the 10-minute mark of CLiMB, featuring a richer plot and an endless chain of butterfly effects to explore. We believe this is an improvement, as the film boasts vibrant colors, fun, music, and action. We hope that watching the movie would be as enjoyable as it was for all of us who made it!

the SWiM crew why we made climb

We hope viewers will enjoy watching this little moving art piece
as much as we did creating it!

PAAstudio

the SWiM crew

IVO VENKOV

Writer, Director, Producer, Design, Animation, Editing, Music, VFX

BORIANA TODOROV

Executive Producer, Writer

NICOLA STEFANOV

Maggie and Robert's Voice Ranger

01

take your dreams apart

And go for it - you'll see what's real, eventually

02

Talk to management

Your creator is standing by and always here to help

03

Reexamine your database

The art within you is right there, you alone can unlock it

04

enjoy to the fullest

But remember, there's always something else around the corner...

Watch the Trailer

94 colorful seconds of fun

because we do art

and have fun doing it!

SWiM is a logical continuation of our moving art piece CLiMB (2023) . We aimed to broaden the philosophical scope of the work, incorporate more temporal art fields, and even explore theology, maintaining a touch of humor. The absurdist thinking approach naturally lends itself to the latter field, addressing any lingering questions about AI and divine intervention. Meaningful or not, life exists in all its forms, and adapting to human-created second-generation intelligence is no easy feat. However, we approach this with a smile and infuse it with color, music, and art.

the unbearable lightness

...of AI

The working title CLiMB2 stood late in production, until Boriana, executive producer and fairy godmother extraordinaire, simply said: “She’s swimming a lot - this got to be our title”. And so it became SWiM, giving us a roadmap to possible future installments to the Maggieverse, which, unlike any Marvel-induced universe, is form, idea, and fun, fused together. We know this is virtually our design motto, but for us, it's the essence of indie filmmaking - absolutely true Ars Gratia Artis, with no golden logo and lion roar, simply cool. With no outside financing either.

see Ivo's take

did anyone say Beckett?

...and Goethe? (still pompous, but true)

The shadow of Mephisto somehow gradually crept in. The force that bears evil, but always conceives good - what better allegory for our playful, yet seriously destructive Blue Morpho. With roots in classic absurdist fiction, SWiM takes a lighter approach - Godot does not need to arrive anymore. Or does he? Beckett and Goethe aside, SWiM presents a delightful exploration of profound philosophical concepts from both the past and the present. Silly yet serious enough, we hope it will be a delight for the senses and the mind of our viewers.

see the trailer

SWiM film credits

Ivo Venkov - Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Design, VFX, Compositing, Music, Original Artworks Rossi Venkov - Co-Producer Boriana Todorov - Executive Producer, Writer Ivan Tonev - Assocoate Producer Emil Mitev - Visual and story Consultant Nicola Stefanov - Maggie and Robert's Voice Ranger PAAstudio - Sound, mix and mastering Blagomir Alexiev - Miro - Post-production sound Philip Venkov - Title Design Marina Asenova - Backing Vocals Petruccio - Additional Vocals + Keyboards Chako Music - Additional Mix and Recoding Boris Chakarov - Re-recording sound engineer doclusifer2 - Spaceship model Mixamo - Mocap Maxon - Rendering engine, mocap Rigsters - 3D scans SimpleDCP - DCP

special thanks and notes

Still thanking Edward Norton Lorenz for his inspirational butterfly effect…
…and Antonio Sant’Elia for taking the time to see the future
Ava Venkov Z. Paneva Marina Kostova Sigal Diamant Elizabeth Mitev Todor Nikolov Krassi Nikolov Marina Bartolomäus Nina Hagelauer Vesselin Milev
NOTES:
The SWiM crew made a real effort to use AI for this film’s script. It failed miserably, producing only Marvel-style story lines… Joint Palisadian Science Council Monitoring: No Insects or AI were harmed in the making of this film All Profanities in C+ have been preserved and converted to C++ Dedicated to all of you using AI
#swimmovie #palisadesstrong ©℗ PAAstudio 2026

We must invent and rebuild the Futurist city like an immense and tumultuous shipyard, agile, mobile and dynamic in every detail; and the Futurist house
must be like a gigantic machine.

Antonio Sant’Elia

10 fun facts

01

SWiM is a fully independent PAAstudio production, with no sponsors, grants, or commercial affiliations. It is a true art piece in the purest form of the Ars Gratia Artis expression.

It was made for the pure appreciation of art and the joy and freedom of making it.

- a true indie film

02

Everyone who worked on this production did it for the fun of doing it. From initial brainstorming to down-and-dirty modeling, editing, color calibration, cleanup, mixing, sound editing, and rerecording— all was done on a purely friendly basis, with good faith and appreciation of one another’s company.

All in all, we are still good friends.

- we thank all the people who contributed to this film

03

The production took over two years from start to almost finish, with a very limited crew, no outside financing, and no crowdfunding. It was unfortunately disrupted by the Palisades Fire of 2025. Nevertheless, it survived and continued in exile with love and affection.

This would be the definition of a true arthouse short, a resilient one too. Moreover, a vital part of the #artspace continuum.

see more at our main art site

04

The working title CLiMB2 stood late in production, until Boriana, executive producer and fairy godmother extraordinaire, simply said: “She’s swimming a lot - this got to be our title”. And so it became SWiM, which gives us a roadmap to possible future installments to the Maggieverse, which, unlike any Marvel-induced universe, is form, idea, and fun, fused together. We know this is virtually our design motto, but for us, it's the essence of indie filmmaking - absolutely true Ars Gratia Artis, with no golden logo and lion roar, simply cool. With no outside financing either..

- how did you come up with such a weird title?

05

Just like in CLiMB, almost all modeling and rendering was done in Maxon's Cinema 4D. Its Sketch + Toon renderer was very well suited for the chosen comic book look . This time, Maggie’s rebuild was a custom model, fitting her elevated role. Mixamo’s mocap movements were primarily used for all characters, except for the runway crowd, which utilized C4D data.

Blu was animated separately, while Robert was relatively fatefully rotoscoped over custom footage of our Voice Ranger extraordinaire, Nikola Stefanov.

- tech detail

06

All compositing and VFX were once again done in Apple's Motion 5, which is an unbelievable app for the price, has a lovely UI, and manages to handle over 100 layers at 4K with little to no hiccups.

Occasional 3D scans by Rigsters, an exceptional and generous 3D scanning company.

-more tech detaIL

07

The music was composed, mixed and mastered in Apple's Logic Pro this time around. It is a delight to work with, extremely stable and capable on a Mac Studio. A combination of virtual and physical instruments, it was mixed and mastered at 96 kHz 32-bit floating point, dithered down to 48 kHz for the film master. Some final output remix in ProTools by Ars Digital.

- more music tech detail

08

All film editing was done in Apple's Final Cut Pro X. Output is in 4K 3996x2160, Dolby Surround 5.1.

The Vimeo stream will give a stereo only output, which is quite adequate with good speakers or headphones, but the real experience would be the 5.1 sound. We hope you can join us at the festival cirquit to experience that.

- even more editing tech detail

09

Joint Palisadian Science Council Monitoring:

NO INSECTS or AI were harmed in the making of this film.
All profanities in C+ have been preserved and converted to C++

At this point in time we also know with confidence, that androids do not, repeat, do not dream of electric sheep. In fact, they dream of art.

- insect + AI power!

10

The SWiM crew made a real effort to use AI for this film’s script. It failed miserably, producing only Marvel-style story lines…

Still thanking Edward Nortton Lorenz for his inspirational clarification of the butterfly effect…
…and Antonio Sant’Elia for taking the time to see the future.

This film is safe for all audiences, and hopefully enjoyable for the majority.

WATCH THE MOVIE

When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world,
it can eventually cause a hurricane in another.

Edward Norton Lorenz

stills, tests, sketches and art from the film

“Who are you then?"
"I am part of that force that always wills the evil and always produces the good.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

17:09 min of fun

Stream SWiM | coming soon |

Why are we here, that is the question? And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear.
We are waiting for Godot to come.
...We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment.

Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

It was a complex affair

But fun and colorful at all times!

The intent was to stay as close as possible to the actual making of an art piece, the CLiMB way, albeit in a more absurdist narrative. It worked, preserving the natural flow and idea intact, with the process being the one creating art. The color script was based on the different art pieces being used as stills and time-lapses throughout the film. We tried to balance a relaxed, yet gently saturated atmosphere from the start to the radiant art swim climax and the final morph scenes. And we hope it shows.

join us on instagram

RELATIVELY WELL DESIGNED

And not just a bunch of apps

With some creative improvisation, layers and dynamics were rendered with Sketch and Toon in C4D, allowing for the desired comic book visual style. Then all was composited with some VFX and image adjustments in Motion 5, which still remains a great little app. Different layer blending was used to get a deeper color in some scenes and the old film effect, accentuating some of Maggie's HD | AI imperfections, gave the movie a unified look. All original artwork was done in Procreate on an iPad Pro.

watch the teasers

it's all in the piano

And the voice, and native beats...

We had several themes to work with, along with some filler pieces for the different phases of Maggie's art quest. She has to walk the runway walk, wait for Godot, dream the SantElia city and bask in art. So we just decided to homage from jazzy Dan rock to Vangelis' Yamaha CS-80 emulation and back... with some additional recording at Chako Music. The native beats and repetitive mantras bring a seriously uplifting vibe during the colorful art swim, and leave off the same in the credits. With Logic and love.

stream the movie

one space to rule them all

Our unique way of creating effortless beauty

Part theory of relativity, part J.R.R. Tolkien, the idea of the Artspace Continuum has been a focal point of our design, or shall we say, overall life approach, for a long number of years. It has crystalized in 2D and 3D work and attention to environmental issues. We view it as the overall, planned infusion of art in our daily lives, which elevates the mere passing of time to the level of pure enjoyment and adventure, brought in by harmony, color, space, sound - i.e. architecture, 3D art, painting and music. Yes, music - as Goethe said “Architecture is still music”.

In other words, blurring the lines between temporal and spatial arts into an environment, which, unlike a museum, is free to use, enjoy and mess with at all times. And like a well designed object of desire, it puts a smile on your face every time you’re in there and basically sets the foundation of a much better, pleasurable and meaningful existence. Not sure yet if this might be the ‘meaning of life’, but it could be damn close to it.

This concept encompasses the myriad of art forms we touch - design, sculpture, painting, music, film, even theatre. For us, respectfully - it is very close to the meaning of life. Not too corny, right? But in the end - very true. Just a happy everyday occurrence.

visit our main site intrigued? drop us a line

free poster download

poster 1
a fun classic poster look

4000 x 5333 PNG at 300 dpi

SWiM POSTERS DOWNLOAD For serious SWiM fans only - enjoy and observe copyrights, please!

© All ideas, designs, drawings, pictures, specifications, art and music, represented on this site, are and shall remain property of PAAstudio. No part thereof shall be reproduced, copied, adapted or distributed to others, sold, published or otherwise used without the prior written consent of, and appropriate compensation to PAAstudio. Visual contact with the above shall constitute conclusive evidence of the acceptance of these limits. ALL WORKS REPRESENTED ON THIS WEB SITE ARE COPYRIGHTED WITH THE US COPYRIGHT REGISTRAR. UNAUTHORIZED DOWNLOAD, USE AND REPRODUCTION, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.

by downloading the artwork
I agree to the above conditions

poster 2
another distinct art poster

4000 x 5333 PNG at 300 dpi

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Meet

01

02

Film Director's Statement

We hope viewers will enjoy watching this little moving art piece
as much as we did creating it!

the SWiM crew

01

02

03

04

Watch the Trailer

because we do art

the unbearable lightness

did anyone say Beckett?

SWiM film credits

special thanks and notes

We must invent and rebuild the Futurist city like an immense and tumultuous shipyard, agile, mobile and dynamic in every detail; and the Futurist house
must be like a gigantic machine.

10 fun facts

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world,
it can eventually cause a hurricane in another.

“Who are you then?"
"I am part of that force that always wills the evil and always produces the good.”

Stream SWiM | coming soon |

Why are we here, that is the question? And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear.
We are waiting for Godot to come.
...We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment.

It was a complex affair

RELATIVELY WELL DESIGNED

it's all in the piano

one space to rule them all

we'll be in touch soon!

Meet

SWiM

01

02

Film Director's Statement

We hope viewers will enjoy watching this little moving art piece as much as we did creating it!

the SWiM crew

01

02

03

04

Watch the Trailer

because we do art

the unbearable lightness

did anyone say Beckett?

SWiM film credits

special thanks and notes

We must invent and rebuild the Futurist city like an immense and tumultuous shipyard, agile, mobile and dynamic in every detail; and the Futurist house must be like a gigantic machine.

10 fun facts

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world, it can eventually cause a hurricane in another.

“Who are you then?" "I am part of that force that always wills the evil and always produces the good.”

Stream SWiM | coming soon |

Why are we here, that is the question? And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come. ...We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment.

It was a complex affair

RELATIVELY WELL DESIGNED

it's all in the piano

one space to rule them all

we'll be in touch soon!

We hope viewers will enjoy watching this little moving art piece
as much as we did creating it!

We must invent and rebuild the Futurist city like an immense and tumultuous shipyard, agile, mobile and dynamic in every detail; and the Futurist house
must be like a gigantic machine.

When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world,
it can eventually cause a hurricane in another.

“Who are you then?"
"I am part of that force that always wills the evil and always produces the good.”

Why are we here, that is the question? And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear.
We are waiting for Godot to come.
...We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment.