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by Michaela Putz
grade: 7
Phantom of a Garden strikes us with its extraordinary visual care. And despite the often controversial use of artificial intelligence, we can see how it is also capable of producing something we all desperately need: pure beauty. At the film review CinemAUSTRIA 2025/2026.
What has been still lives on
What would happen if more and more plant species disappeared completely? How would our environment be affected by such changes? And, above all, how could we somehow “revive” these species, so as to “honour” them in all their magnetic beauty? And here, unexpectedly, artificial intelligence can come to our aid in such cases. Yes, because, in fact, through archive images, artificial intelligence is able to create 3D images, finally giving us the impression that these species, in their own way, are still alive. Director Michaela Putz knows this well. In 2024, in collaboration with Multinode Studio, she made in fact her short film Phantom of a Garden, which was presented in Italy at the film review CinemAUSTRIA 2025/2026 organised by the Forum Austriaco di Cultura Roma, in collaboration with the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Film Festival in Vienna.
In making Phantom of a Garden, Michaela Putz drew heavily on numerous archives to find photographs of plants that have long since become extinct in Austria and are now on the Red List. As mentioned above, these images were reworked using artificial intelligence and, as if by magic, took on a 3D form. The end result? Thanks to the creativity of Michaela Putz (and Javier González of Multinode Studio, of course), what we see on the silver screen has an immediate hypnotic, almost magnetic effect.
Phantom of a Garden shows us, through a sort of “dance”, many, many plants that can finally live again on the silver screen. The director’s camera films them one after the other, showing them from every angle. A 3D animation, complex and essential at the same time, together with a minimalist sound design, proved to be the perfect solution to best convey what Michaela Putz wanted to show us with this important work. At the same time, the message she wanted to convey to us comes across loud and clear.
Yes, because, in fact, we are all aware of the seriousness of the particular historical period we are experiencing from an environmental point of view. And cinema, as we well know, could not simply “stand by and watch”, but, on the contrary, over the years has produced countless works focusing on this theme, each with its own form and directorial approach. Each of them with a specific, extremely urgent intent. Phantom of a Garden, for its part, strikes us first and foremost for its extraordinary visual care and the particular technique used. And despite the often controversial use of artificial intelligence, we can clearly see how it is also capable of producing something we all desperately need: pure beauty.
Original title: Phantom of a Garden
Directed by: Michaela Putz
Country/year: Austria / 2024
Running time: 7’
Genre: animation, experimental
Screenplay: Michaela Putz
Cinematography: Michaela Putz, Multinode Studio
Produced by: Michaela Putz