"It's my first love—Runway," says Guido Callegari, pointing to the hoodie he's wearing on our Zoom call.
The garment is from his first Runway Creative Partners Program kit, and for Guido—a director at the AI studio GRAiL and co-founder of Runway’s Italy Community—it represents more than brand loyalty.
I have to attribute my career, my work to Runway. It’s the tool that helped me create my mindset and approach to AI.
As Italy's first official Runway Creative Partner, Guido has organized sold-out meetups with his co-host Giuliano Ambrosio across Turin, Milan, Naples, Florence, Bologna, and Palermo—speaking to thousands about a philosophy that goes against the grain of AI hype. His message is consistent and radical: Runway isn't about the technology. It's about storytelling.
Stories Guide Everything
When Guido and his partner Giuliano started organizing Runway meetups in September 2023 with the support of ADCI (Art Directors Club Italia), they weren't just building community—they were fighting for it. Italy was flooded with what they call fuffa guru: fake gurus selling AI courses without understanding the craft.
A lot of people talk about AI and tools, but no one makes something interesting with quality, with ethical concepts.
Runway was different. In addition to powerful tech, Guido and Giuliano saw their own values reflected in Runway’s philosophy.
It's not 'we make cool things, we move something.' It's ‘tell stories’. This is the difference. The tool changes, the approach changes, it's a liquid moment. But the stories guide everything and the stories remain. If you don’t have a story, it’s only a tech demo.
That distinction defines everything Guido does, culminating in one of Guido’s most powerful projects: Pulsee Memor.ia.
Pulsee Memor.ia: Emotion takes Center-Stage
In Pulsee Memor.ia, Guido collaborated with fellow Runway Creative Partners to recreate positive memories for transgender individuals and disabled persons to heal traumatic ones from their past. Using Runway, they generated short films from the narrators’ likenesses, then screened them for participants on 12-meter screens in darkened studios. The core intent of the project was to use AI as an invisible tool to enable emotional healing and storytelling across very different, deeply human experiences.
When Bryan saw his video—[Bryan is the participant Guido generated for]—I was there. It's a lot of emotion and a lot of gratitude for recreating this moment. I can't forget when I met Bryan and embraced him. It's when the heart is breaking really hard.
The films later screened at Milan's Gay Pride event. For Guido, the real victory was cultural.
It was impossible to create something without AI for this project. But nobody talked about AI. They talked only about emotions. That's the shift.
Errors as Opportunity
Guido is seizing on this turning point to empower the next generation to take risks. Teaching at five of Italy’s most important creative schools, he draws parallels between generative AI and another art form that was disruptive in its infancy: jazz.
An error is an opportunity. You have an error? Keep the error and make something great with it.
It's a message he'll keep spreading—one story, one student, one meetup at a time. And as every meetup continues to sell out, it proves what Guido knew from the start: when you lead with story instead of spectacle, community and creativity don't just follow. They flourish.
About the Organizers
Guido Callegari is an AI filmmaker and director at GRAiL, one of the leading entertainment studios and management companies headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Our clients and partners include Coca-Cola, Meta, Microsoft, Activision, as well as major Hollywood studios and global streaming platforms.
Giuliano Ambrosio is the Founder & CEO of ThinkingHat, an innovation studio based in Italy specializing in emerging technologies and experiential marketing. Over the years, he has worked with brands such as Bulgari, Valentino, FIFA, Lamborghini, Red Bull, Nestlé, and Save the Children. He has spoken at several conferences including TEDx, and is a professor in multiple Marketing and Communication Master’s programs, including at 24ORE Business School.
