Multiformat Unveils AI-Created Vintage Adult Films

Per Variety, a collection of AI-generated short films derived from 1976 erotic magazine photo spreads premiered on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, the article reports. Variety attributes the project to Thomas Meier of Norwegian company Multiformat, and says Meier used generative AI tools to transform static magazine spreads into full-motion video with color, synchronized sound, dialogue and voice-over. Variety reports the collection streamed on Cultpix and that a physical release on BluRay and a limited VHS edition will follow from Klubb Super 8. Cultpix CEO and co-founder Rickard Gramfors is quoted by Variety: "What was once considered shocking 'adult' material now seems remarkably innocent by today's standards."

Per Variety, the technical approach used generative AI to animate archival still photography and add audio elements; the article does not specify which models, tools, or vendors were used. Variety's reporting focuses on the aesthetic and curatorial framing rather than publishing a technical workflow or model names.

Companies and creators using generative models to convert archival stills into motion are part of a broader pattern where AI is applied to restoration, reanimation and creative reinterpretation of historical media. For practitioners, that pattern raises reuse, provenance and rights questions that often accompany archival dataset creation and media synthesis workflows.

Public reporting frames this Cannes-adjacent release as both an artistic statement and a provocation about how standards for nudity and sexuality have evolved. Variety situates the project alongside festival programming and institutional retrospectives that revisit censorship debates, indicating growing curatorial interest in vintage erotica and the cultural implications of automated media production.

observers should look for follow-up disclosures about the models, training data sources, and rights clearances. Coverage that names specific tools or explains licensing for the underlying magazine images will materially affect legal and reproducibility assessments in archival synthesis projects.