Ava DuVernay Explains AI Use in New Documentary '14th'

Director Ava DuVernay has utilized generative artificial intelligence to animate archival photographs in her new documentary, "14th." The film, a companion piece to her 2016 Oscar-nominated work "13th," premiered at the New York Film Festival on Friday, October 9.

"14th" examines the Fourteenth Amendment, which pertains to citizenship rights, voting, and insurrection, connecting its historical context to contemporary issues. The documentary, produced by DuVernay's ARRAY production company, builds upon "13th's" exploration of the prison industrial complex.

During a press conference following the screening, DuVernay addressed the use of AI in animating historical images. She explained that the technique was inspired by stereoscopic photography, a 19th-century method that created a 3D effect using paired images. "One of the things I was really interested in was this thing that I had discovered when we were researching—some photos we have to watch through stereoscopic photography," DuVernay said. "When you put them in this machine—that used around the time of the Civil War, very popular—they create an effect where it was like 3D. If you move, they move. It was like, ‘My god. People should see this.'"

DuVernay stated that the goal was to achieve a similar effect using contemporary animation and photoscoping technologies. "When I went to the artists who were doing our photoscoping, and our parallax, and our animation process—there’s some of that technology that is in their tools. It creates a similar effect to the stereoscope. That was the goal for that, and that’s why we used it."

"14th" is scheduled to open in select theaters on November 27 and will be available globally on Netflix on December 4, 2026.