Russian Filmmakers Turn to AI to Recreate WWII’s Most Iconic Moment

In Russia’s latest experiment with artificial intelligence, filmmakers are using neural networks and augmented reality to reconstruct the dramatic raising of the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in 1945.

Russian filmmakers are leaning on AI to bring history to life in a new feature about World War II. The film centers on one of the conflict’s defining images: the hoisting of the Victory Banner above Berlin’s Reichstag at the end of the war.

The creators will use neural networks and augmented reality technologies to create backgrounds and scenery.

The production will be shot at Moscow’s MosKino film park and in the legendary Mosfilm studios, where crews will install massive screens to enable augmented reality effects in real time.

The Russian film industry has been quick to adopt AI and other advanced tools. Engineers have already trained robots to generate full-length features and TV shows. Some of these AI-assisted films have even collected international awards, and Russian projects made with neural networks are finding audiences abroad as well as in domestic theaters.