Podcasts, radio shows, video interviews, and written features covering ILLUMINAI Studios, founder Jesse Weglein, and the films ROAR and Shine.
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Hosted by Chris Barkley & Nicholas Buggs on LiveradioUS.com.
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Jesse's 15-year career at Pixar, transition to founding ILLUMINAI Studios, ethical and artist-led hybrid AI pipelines, the Tribeca premiere of ROAR, and his philosophy on human storytelling.
Hosted by Debbe Dunning / Deb Lore on Behind The Lens Online.
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Detailed breakdown of ROAR ahead of its Tribeca World Premiere, using extreme close-ups (ECUs) to simulate sensory focus and selective mutism, the Hawaiian-instrument musical bridge, and upcoming ILLUMINAI slate projects.
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Full audio interview covering Jesse's background at Pixar and the founding of ILLUMINAI Studios.
Hosted by Clay D & Queen Dè.
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Cultural resonance, indie filmmaking, and bringing neurodivergent narratives to premier festivals.
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Former Pixar artist Jesse Weglein spent 15 years helping craft some of the most emotionally resonant animated films in cinema history, until a sweeping studio layoff forced him to confront what it really means to be a filmmaker without the safety net of the world's greatest animation brand behind him. Rather than abandon the craft, Jesse channeled his Pixar-trained eye and a deeply personal family story into ROAR, an AI-hybrid short film about a neurodivergent girl navigating a new world — a film that earned a Tribeca Film Festival selection and caught the eye of none other than Whoopi Goldberg. In this conversation, Jesse pulls back the curtain on how he built ILLUMINAI Studios from the ground up, using AI not as a replacement for artistry but as a precision tool harnessed tightly within a human-driven creative vision rooted in traditional filmmaking principles.
Episode Guide
A conversation about the emotional origins of ROAR, using music as an internal language for the film's central character, and balancing emerging technology with deeply human storytelling. Jesse also reflects on how his experiences at Pixar Animation Studios influenced his approach to emotional narrative construction, and the mission behind ILLUMINAI Studios. ROAR tells the story of Tora, a neurodivergent young girl with selective mutism who struggles to adapt after moving from Tokyo to San Francisco — transforming her inner world into a vivid musical and visual language inspired by K-pop and animation.
Jesse Weglein's journey from a 15-year career at Pixar to founding his own AI-hybrid animation studio is a masterclass in what it looks like when a filmmaker refuses to let circumstance define their ceiling. His Tribeca-selected short film ROAR, a deeply personal story about a neurodivergent girl and her inner world of music, proves that when AI is wielded with discipline, traditional craft knowledge, and authentic human intent, the result can be emotionally powerful cinema that moves audiences and opens doors.
Jesse Weglein answers the signature closing question with a moment of genuine emotional vulnerability: a chance encounter with a nurse at a San Francisco hospital, whose child is neurodivergent, brought him to the realization that ROAR and his work at ILLUMINAI Studios is no longer just his story — it belongs to a community that desperately needs to see itself on screen.
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Period lighting in 1950s New York, honoring personal family history, and using AI as an augmenting tool rather than a replacement.
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Feature review and director's statement from Jesse Weglein regarding the Tribeca screening of ROAR.
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Deep dive into Shine and its roots in Weglein's father's 1950s New York childhood, the thematic bridge between resilience and inner peace, and establishing ethical AI guardrails at ILLUMINAI Studios that keep human artists at the center of the creative vision.
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