The Threshold (2025) – IMDb film page

LOGLINE

After two decades of silence, a daughter returns to face the parent she once knew as her father. In the stillness of a cramped apartment, every glance, every pause, becomes a fragile bridge between love, loss, and the truth that can no longer be hidden

SYNOPSIS

After twenty years of silence, Sophie meets with her mother Eva – a person who was once her father. This intimate encounter in the stuffy apartment of a ruined tenement becomes a confrontation with the past, pain, and questions about abandonment and acceptance. The film, in the convention of poetic auteur cinema, constitutes a technological and artistic experiment – generative AI tools have replaced the physical film camera here, capturing the world and emotions of the protagonists. It is a story about silence that can scream, and about a moment when one unexpected event can change everything, revealing a truth more painful than years of separation.

After twenty years of silence, Sophie decides to cross the threshold of her mother Eva’s apartment – a woman who was once her father. This meeting, in a stifling attic flat, becomes a confrontation with the past, with pain, and with questions about abandonment and acceptance.

Eva, a 55-year-old transgender woman, lives in isolation in a decaying tenement in a poor part of the city. Her daughter Sophie, a 35-year-old woman from a wealthier district, stands at the door with one burning question: “Why did you leave me?” Just as it seems the two women might finally find a spark of understanding, an unexpected event changes everything, revealing a truth more painful than years of silence.

Told in the style of poetic auteur cinema, the film unfolds through silence, glances, and gestures — offering no easy answers, and leaving space for the audience’s own interpretation. Director Jacek Kadaj, a cinematographer by training, used generative AI tools as a substitute for a traditional camera, experimenting with the possibility of capturing the subtlest human emotions through artificial intelligence.

FEATURE IN DEVELOPMENT

The Threshold serves not just as a self-contained short film, but as a conceptual prologue to a feature-length adaptation currently in development. The same emotional core and character dynamics will be explored further through traditional cinematography.

THE THRESHOLD (BTS – AI Film Teaser)
The Threshold - Generative AI Short Film

Awards

The Threshold has been officially selected and honored at international film festivals.

Honorable Mention & Nominations

  • Eastern Europe Film Festival 2025 – Honorable Mention (Best Short Film)

  • Reale Film Festival 2025 – Nominee (Best Experimental Film)

  • NYIFA 2025 – August 2025 – Finalist (Best AI Film)
  • Seoul International AI Film Festival 2025 – Finalist (AI Film)
  • Golden Bridge İstanbul Short Film Festival – Finalist 2025 ( Best Experimental Film)
  • AI Film Awards Venice 2025 – Honorable Mention (AI Long Film)
  • Amsterdam New Cinema Film Festival – August 2025 – Honorable Mention (Best AI-generated Short Film)
  • Red Rocks AI Film Festival 2025 – Quarter Finalist (Best AI Short Film)
  • Swedish International Film Festival 2025 – Nominee (Best AI Film)

Official Selections

  • New York Tri-State International Film Festival 2025

  • BAIFF – Burano Artificial Intelligence Film Festival 2025

  • AMT International Film Festival NYC 2025
  • Golden Bridge İstanbul Short Film Festival 2025
  • Indian Independent Film Festival [IIFF] August 2025

  • Your Way International Film Festival 2025
  • Five Continents International Film Festival 2025

  • EDUKINO – Empowering Film Festival 2025
  • Big Syn International Film Festival, London 2025
  • Night of Shorts – September 2025
  • Blagoevgrad Short Film Fest 2025
  • FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – SEP 2025
  • AI Film Festival Japan 2025
The AI becomes our camera into the soul. It allows us to capture the micro-expressions, the weight of silence, and the textures of memory with a unique, almost poetic precision. This project aims to prove that technology is not a barrier to emotion but a new doorway to understanding it. We are crossing a threshold not only in the story but also in the art of filmmaking itself.
The Threshold is about that single, terrifying moment of hesitation before a door opens.
It’s about the silent space between past and future, where forgiveness is possible, but not guaranteed.

CREDITS

Written, Directed and AI-Generated by Jacek Kadaj
About the Author

Jacek Kadaj is a Warsaw-based filmmaker, photographer, and AI artist with over 30 years of experience in traditional cinema. Trained as a cinematographer, he has collaborated with National Geographic and Getty Images, earned numerous photography awards, and presented his work in international exhibitions. In recent years, he has embraced generative AI as a new creative lens, producing award-winning AI films that blend poetic imagery with emotional depth. His work seeks to explore whether technology can capture — and even amplify — the fragility, tension, and beauty of human stories.

Crossing The Threshold
An Intimate AI-Generated Interview with Film Director

What lies behind the haunting atmosphere of The Threshold? In this unique conversation, journalist Sarah sits down with director Jacek to uncover the inspirations, memories, and emotions that shaped the film. They talk about scars — both visible and invisible — the role of decay in visual storytelling, and the meaning of an ending that refuses to give simple answers.

Although the interview itself was generated with AI tools, it authentically reflects the director’s voice and vision. The result is not just an interview, but an exploration of how technology can capture human sensitivity. Step inside this dialogue and discover the deeper layers of The Threshold.

FILM ASSETS

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MOMENTS FROM THE FILM

ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

STATEMENT OF FICTION

All characters and events in this film are fictional and AI-generated.
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

PRODUCED BY

Jacek Kadaj | A1GEN01 Labs | 2025

Ⓒ Jacek Kadaj | The Threshold | All Rights Reserved

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