# Emergence

- Date: 2025-06-05
- Type: film
- Credit: Maddie Hong
- Genre: Drama, Experimental
- Artists: [Maddie Hong](https://aifilmhistory.org/artist/maddie-hong)
- Award: Merit — Runway AIFF 2025 — Runway AI Film Festival 2025
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lb-kywTuWg
- URL: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/emergence-maddie-hong

After seventeen years underground, a cicada comes out into the light, and the film lives its last moments through its eyes: the anticipation, the fear and the joy of becoming. Maddie Hong combined practical photography by Julia Harris with fine-tuned AI models, and the team made it for under $400. A Merit winner at [Runway's 2025 AI Film Festival](https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/aiff-2025).

Links:
- Emergence on Maddie Hong's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRWGWl6brkA

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Source: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/emergence-maddie-hong
Era: 2025 · The Studio Era
Last updated: 2026-10-19