Tell us a bit about your organization and what your specialty is in the film and video space.

At Arbor (ArborPlatform.com), we help marketing and communications teams keep up with the growing demand for content by transforming long-form videos into ready-to-post clips, blogs, and social posts. Our specialty lies in using AI to identify the “magic moments” within a conversation or interview and turn them into powerful stories that maintain a brand’s authentic voice.

We see ourselves not as a replacement for creativity but as a force multiplier for it. Arbor combines technology and storytelling so teams can share more human, more resonant stories without adding to their workload.

Our roots are deeply creative—our team draws inspiration from theater, film, and music.

Artistically, I come from the world of musical theater, and am currently developing a show for Broadway called Nasha America (fka Fallout). The show is a modern Immigrant story, reflecting my experience as an immigrant from Ukraine in 1989.

My artistic background shapes how we think about pacing, emotion, and audience connection in every frame. Arbor exists at the intersection of art and technology, helping brands tell stories that truly move people.

What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?

At Arbor, our ethos is simple: authenticity at scale. We believe the most powerful stories are already being told inside organizations every day (in interviews, panels, and conversations) but they rarely reach the audiences who would benefit most. Arbor’s mission is to make those stories accessible without losing their humanity.

Where others focus on synthetic automation, we focus on amplification. Our AI doesn’t fabricate voices or scripts; it listens, identifies what’s real and resonant, and helps teams share it faster and with more intention. That’s what sets us apart in an industry flooded with generic, AI-generated content.

We’re building technology that serves creativity, not the other way around. Every product decision we make aims to preserve the voice, tone, and integrity of the storyteller. Arbor isn’t about creating more content—it’s about scaling the real stories that already matter.

How can people join or learn more about what you do?

For Arbor, you can learn more here: https://www.arborplatform.com/

For the show, you can go here: https://www.falloutmusical.com/

Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?

Our Hands is a deeply personal piece about legacy, sacrifice, and the threads that connect generations. It’s a song from a musical I wrote about an immigrant family navigating ambition, love, and identity. In the video, the father reflects on what he’s given up and what endures: his hands, his work, and his love for his family.

The visual treatment was designed to feel intimate and human, focusing on subtle gestures and emotional truth rather than spectacle. We are telling the story of Brighton Beach at a point in history that has now faded. Using AI, we can recreate the feeling of a neighborhood of immigrants pulling together in a new world.

What makes Our Hands special to me is how it bridges my two worlds. It’s rooted in musical theater, but its production approach reflects the same philosophy behind Arbor: technology serving emotion, not overshadowing it. It’s proof that when you center real human stories, they resonate—whether on stage, on screen, or online.

What are you most proud of about this piece? What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?

I’m most proud that Our Hands faithfully represents my people’s experience coming to America. The Soviet Jewry movement brought over 1.5 million people to the United States, yet our story is still largely untold. This film became my way of shining a light on that journey; the sacrifices, the resilience, and the love that carried so many families, including my own, across continents.

The biggest challenge we faced was keeping the characters emotionally authentic using AI rendering. We were working with early versions of Midjourney and RunwayML to bring our characters to life, and we had to learn how to “direct” emotions through language. Simple prompts like “happy” could produce cartoonish smiles that broke the realism of the moment. It took countless experiments to find the right words that captured the subtlety and tenderness we wanted.

In the end, the process mirrored the story itself—trying, failing, refining, and holding on to what felt true. That’s what made the film, and the experience of making it, so meaningful.

Do you have any advice to other filmmakers based on your career or your team’s approach to work?

Have a vision, and hold onto it with everything you’ve got. Tools will change, trends will shift, and people will doubt what they can’t yet see. Don’t settle for halfway. If you can see it clearly in your head, it’s just a matter of time before others see it in the world.

As a creator, your job is to bring that vision to life. Find the people and tools that can help you get there, and keep refining along the way. Every version brings you closer. The process might be messy, but that’s where the magic lives.

Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?

Our Hands was the first film I ever produced, and my partner and I had to learn absolutely everything about animation from scratch. What started as a creative experiment turned into a nine-month crash course in storytelling, design, and patience. I had a very clear vision, but my skill set needed to catch up—so we iterated relentlessly.

We made version after version, refining every frame and every emotional beat. I became that person who would invite friends and family over… and then sit them down for a “quick” screening. Our living room basically turned into a test audience lab. Through all that feedback, we learned what confused people, what resonated, and what moments truly landed.

The turning point came when people started tearing up consistently. That’s when I knew we’d found it—the emotional truth we were chasing. The whole process taught me that iteration, humility, and persistence are the real tools of any creator.

It took 9 months to bake 4 minutes, our little animation baby, but it was worth every moment!

Tell us about the most memorable response you got from this work.

When I posted about Our Hands on LinkedIn, I was moved by the response. Many people shared that the film made them tear up, which meant a lot given how personal the story is to me. But one message stood out—it came from a colleague who leads the communications and marketing team at Kohl’s. He was inspired by how we used AI to tell such an emotional story and invited me to speak to his entire creative team about our process.

That day was incredibly special. We shared not just the film, but also the lessons behind it: how AI can serve as an iteration partner, helping creators move faster without sacrificing authenticity. By removing some of the traditional production constraints, we discovered that technology can actually make storytelling more human, not less.

It was a full-circle moment—seeing how a deeply personal project could spark new ways of thinking inside a major brand’s creative team.

Complete this sentence: ‘Great video storytelling is…’

…the source code of human connection.