Winner of the 2025 Cannes Immersive Palme d’Or, From Dust offers a profound, AI-personalized journey into the self—where voices lead, and memory responds.
by Alexandra I. Mas
In the evolving landscape of cinematic storytelling, few works this year matched the conceptual clarity and emotional resonance of From Dust, a 24-minute immersive opera experience composed and directed by Michel van der Aa. Garnering the Palme d’Or in the Immersive Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, From Dust reimagines opera as a deeply intimate voyage—guided not by narrative alone, but by presence, memory, and breath.
At the heart of the experience is a vocal procession—the internationally acclaimed all-female ensemble Sjaella—whose haunting harmonies become your companions through a dreamlike virtual terrain. Their voices guide. As you move, they move. As you hesitate, they pause. As you breathe, they sing.
Yet this is no ordinary staging. From Dust is a personalized VR opera, where the environment reacts and reshapes based on your presence, your movement—and uniquely—your input. At the start of the experience, you’re invited to share elements of your personal history. These fragments are then woven into the fabric of the experience using artificial intelligence, which adds tailored imagery, voice effects, and subtle compositional nuances meant to stir the inner self.
Simplicity in Form, Depth in Feeling
While the visual rendering is modest, even sparse at times, the minimalist aesthetic is purposeful. It allows space for the opera’s true protagonist: you. The effect is disarming. The lack of visual overload draws your attention to your own internal reactions, creating a space where sound and memory become central.
The score—equal parts electronic and human—creates an ambient texture of longing and recognition. The voices of Sjaella, paired with AI-curated personal elements, result in what van der Aa calls “a responsive opera of identity.” You do not merely watch or listen; you are reflected within the work.
“It’s not about witnessing a story—it’s about becoming an essential part of how that story unfolds.“
— Michel van der Aa
For many, From Dust marks a first foray into true immersive VR. The experience transforms the participant from a passive viewer or player into a co-creator. Each journey is different—visually and emotionally. No two performances are the same, just as no two viewers carry the same past.
The layering of classical opera with real-time technology is a powerful metaphor for contemporary consciousness. Here, art responds to life.
With From Dust, the traditional boundaries of cinema, theatre, and opera dissolve. This is not a film to watch, nor a stage to admire from afar. It is a lyrical corridor into the self, shaped by AI, enriched by music, and anchored in human emotion.
In winning the Palme d’Or for Immersive Art, From Dust has set a new standard for what immersive storytelling can achieve.
Credits
Composer/Director: Michel van der Aa
Vocal Ensemble: Sjaella
Dramaturgy: Madelon Kooijman
Lead Developer: Roland Smeenk
Lead Technical Artist: Rens van de Wiel
AI Integration: Michael Hussar, Sean Simon
Production: Aram Balian, Daniëlle de Jonge
VR Environment: Volumetric capture + digital twin tech
Presented by: The Netherlands | World Premiere at Cannes 2025
