The Twisted Web of Trisha Paytas. Part 1: Trisha Paytas and the Illuminati (2023), 15' 35" (excerpt)

single-channel video 

This low-budget visual novel unfolds as a surreal fanfiction centered around internet celebrity Trisha Paytas. Inspired by the cutscene style of animated visual novels often used in video games and the static visual language of museum video installations, the film uses a restrained, courtroom-sketch-like aesthetic created with AI-generated images.

The story, fully generated through a patchwork of AI text and image tools, begins with Trisha browsing the internet at home before spiraling into an increasingly absurd narrative involving the Illuminati, kidnapping, divine intervention, pregnancy, and a dramatic courtroom showdown. The limitations of each AI system—censorship, looping, tonal instability—shaped the direction of the plot, which veers wildly between conspiracy thriller and teenage dream journal.

As the artist, I worked more as a conductor than a traditional author—gently nudging the generative systems, switching tools when the narrative stalled or unraveled, piecing fragments together like a puzzle. Rather than imposing a clear arc, I allowed the voice of the machine to take on its own peculiar rhythm. In embracing the fanfiction format and digital constraints, the film becomes a meditation on narrative collapse, internet mythology, and the uncanny ways AI mimics the id of online culture.