Written and directed by Javi Lopez, the pilot of a planned 10-episode series showcases how creative professionals can take their own stories from script to screen
TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / September 23, 2026 / Magnific Originals released It Eats Light, the first episode of Backrooms Nemoris, a 10-part horror anthology written, directed, edited and sound-designed by Javi Lopez. He made it alone and in secret over six months, running some 7,000 generations and, by his own estimate, about $20,000 in AI tokens to finish 17 minutes of film. The episode had its world premiere on September 15 at a Magnific-hosted event in Toronto during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and is now streaming on YouTube and at magnific.com/originals.
Backrooms Nemoris builds a new canon on the Backrooms mythos, the internet horror legend that grew out of a single anonymous photograph of an empty, yellow-lit office posted online in 2019. Lopez wrote the script from scratch: a new universe, not an adaptation. The pilot reveals barely 5% of the overall puzzle, with clues hidden throughout the episode, several of them buried deep enough to need a second viewing. The rest unfolds across the anthology's ten episodes.
"It is probably the most complex project I have ever taken on, and it took more effort than building the first version of Magnific Upscaler," said Lopez. "Every scene you see in this episode, every object, every movement of a character's hands, every space, every vibration, every breath is there with a specific intention and under my complete control."
Sound took roughly 60% of those six months. Some scenes stack more than 13 simultaneous audio tracks, built from Lopez's own recordings, generated audio and Foley libraries, with the position of each sound in space, its equalization and its reverberation set by hand to put the viewer inside each room.
On the image side, Lopez generated 12 hours of video to keep 17 minutes, a ratio of about 42 to 1. He worked primarily with Seedance 2.0 and 2.5 inside Magnific, from image references made with Nano Banana Pro and Seedream 5 Pro, holding continuity across shots through repeated refinement of prompts and references. He edited in DaVinci Resolve using the Magnific plugin.
For studios and filmmakers, the pilot is a reference point: one person can now take a story from script to a finished episode before a production team exists, and use that episode to recruit one.
That is Lopez's next step. He is assembling a small team for the following episodes: voice actors, a colorist, 3D VFX specialists and a sound designer. "I can't do this alone again," he said. "The plan is a small team from traditional film that helps us professionalize the pipeline and take this story to another level."
The premiere, at the Ace Hotel Toronto, was followed by a fireside chat between Lopez and Ryan Patterson, AI filmmaker and co-founder of Queen One Studios, and by the panel "Retaining Creative Agency: How Artists and Filmmakers are Leveraging AI with Fine Control," with creative technologist Lianne Baron, visual artist and filmmaker Dorothy Pang, AI filmmaker Tiffani Lee Joseph and videographer Jasmine El Kurd. Across the premiere and an evening reception, Magnific hosted 150 guests from VFX, film and animation, with attendees from Pixomondo, Spin VFX, MELS Studios, Company 3, CBC and the Canada Media Fund.
Lopez has one request for viewers: "Watch it on a big screen, at home, with a good sound system or proper headphones, lights off."
Trailer, stills and production material are available on request. Javi Lopez is available for interviews through the contact below. More on the series at magnific.com/originals/backrooms-nemoris.
About Magnific and Magnific Originals
Magnific is the AI platform trusted by professional creatives to produce standout advertising and film. Serving more than 1 million paid subscribers worldwide, Magnific brings together the leading image, video, 3D, and audio models with collaborative workflows, custom agents, MCP integration, and a library of more than 200 million licensed assets, all in one place.
Magnific Originals is the label under which Magnific co-produces series, shorts and films that are "talent directed, powered by AI." Creators get early access to every tool and to new models before release; and they premiere their work before Magnific's global community of creators and industry professionals, with direct connections to its partners and events. Other titles under the label: The Sorrowful Figure (Don Quixote, told as a comedy adventure by Contanimation Films, premiered in Madrid); The Chronicles of Bone by Kavan the Kid (a dark universe where Robin Hood, Captain Hook and King Arthur collide); Candela by Myriam Mira (a romantic drama across two timelines, presented at Cannes Lions 2026).
Learn more at Magnific and Magnific Originals.
Media Contact
Organization: Magnific
Contact Person Name: Matias S. Zavia
Website: https://www.magnific.com/
Email: press@magnific.com
Country: United States
SOURCE: King Newswire
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/computers-technology-and-internet/magnific-originals-premieres-backrooms-nemoris-one-filmmaker-six-1225786
