The Diary of Sisyphus () is a 2023 Italian independent experimental drama film. It is the first feature-length film to be written by an artificial intelligence. First presented at the Festival dello Spettatore 2023 in Arezzo and at the Rome Videogame Lab 2024 with Rai Cinema and CinecittÃÂ, it was released in Italian cinemas in January 2024.
For the first time as a screenwriter, an AI narrates the life of Adam, a young college student plagued by existential crisis, and his journey toward the meaning of life, amid absurd encounters and very human vibes.
The script was written by GPT-NEO, an open-source version of GPT-3 by EleutherAI. The model was prompted with a synopsis, the plot lines, and desired scenes. The entire script, with the exception of the opening monologue, was written by GPT-NEO.
The cast includes Niccolò Babbo, Stefano Pellizzari, Chiara Signorini Gremigni, Lorenzo Maria Angelin, Diletta Feruglio, Massimo Somaglino, Marco Risiglione, Fabiano Fantini, Paolo Mattotti, Nicole Greatti, Pietro Cursano, Mattia Giacchetto and Guglielmo Favilla.
The film had a first private screening with critics and journalists at followed by a public premiere at the Festival dello Spettatore in Arezzo on November 9, 2023 and participation at the Rome Videogame Festival 2024 with Rai Cinema and CinecittÃÂ. On January 18, 2024, the film was released in selected Italian cinemas. Distribution is currently being handled by Italian distribution company 49ð.
A review by Italian film critics at describes the movie as "mechanical poetry" and underlines the interesting connections between the film's plot, themes from existentialism and references from works by Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and the Bible such as the name Adam, chosen by the AI for the film's protagonist. The film's is also critiqued for being slow and at times surreal but praised for its cinematography.