Made with AI, not camera footage: branches of a white poplar over a meadow in a polder. The leaves are dark green, and a few are turning over to show their white undersides.

Abeel, film portraits

Film portraits of a life

A shoebox full of photos, a videotape, a letter.

We make them into a film.

How it works

Made or edited with AI

The film portrait

A film portrait is a short film about one life. We make it from the things you and your family have kept: photos, videos on tape or on a phone, letters, voice messages, the music that goes with the person. We don’t use templates. Every film starts with the person it is about.

There are three film portraits, each for a different moment.

Kort (short)
About two minutes, set to one piece of music. For the funeral card, the condolence page and phones.
Verhaal (story)
Three to four minutes, in chapters and made together with you. For the funeral service, the gathering afterwards and the family.
Film
Six to ten minutes: a documentary about a life, made in the weeks after the funeral. For the family and the years to come.
Made from
Photos, videos, letters, voice messages, music

Prices

Three film portraits, each for a different moment. You know beforehand what is included and what it costs.

Kort

About 2 minutes

Your photos, gently brought to life, set to one piece of music.

€229 incl. VAT

Through your funeral director, or directly from us.

For
The condolence page and the QR code on the funeral card, to share on phones. It can also be played at the funeral service.
What’s included
  • 12 to 18 of your photos, restored and set gently in motion
  • music from our licensed library
  • a title with name and dates, and one line of text if you wish
  • a Full HD (1080p) file, yours to keep and share
  • one of us watches the film before it reaches you
What you provide
12 to 18 photos in which one or two faces can be seen clearly, the name and dates, your choice from our music list and, if you wish, one line of text.
Changes
One photo swap.
Ready
Within 48 hours of receiving your photos.

Order directly

Verhaal

3 to 4 minutes

One piece of music, one life. In chapters, made together with you.

€799 incl. VAT

Through your funeral director, or directly from us.

For
The funeral service, the gathering afterwards, the family.
What’s included
  • a 15-minute conversation with you, or with your funeral director
  • a selection from 30 to 50 photos and up to three of your own videos
  • a story in chapters: childhood, work, family, the things they loved
  • your own words as titles, a spoken message from the family or a calm Dutch narrating voice
  • restoration, gentle motion and music
  • you approve the selection and the story before we make the film
  • a Full HD (1080p) file, watched by one of us
What you provide
30 to 60 photos, up to three videos, a few lines about the person (or tell us in the conversation) and your choice of music.
Changes
One round, after you have seen the film: swap, remove or reorder photos, change the music or the titles.
Ready
5 working days after your approval. 72 hours with rush delivery.

Order directly

Film

6 to 10 minutes

A documentary about a life, made in the weeks after the funeral.

from €3,570 incl. VAT

Directly from us.

For
The family, in the quiet after the funeral. A memorial gathering. The years to come.
What’s included
  • research in your own archive, photos, videos, letters and recordings, and where it fits in public archives
  • a written story and script, which you approve
  • a calm Dutch narrating voice, or the voices of the family
  • the person’s own voice from real recordings, or recreated from those recordings if you ask us to
  • restoration, cinematic scenes in Full HD, sound design and music
  • a vertical version for phones as well
  • we watch the film together with you when we hand it over
What you provide
Your archive, one or two conversations of about an hour, and your approval of the script and of the first cut.
Changes
Two rounds. Having an image made again is part of it.
Ready
In 4 to 6 weeks.
Price
The price covers a film of up to six minutes. If it runs longer, you hear beforehand what each extra minute costs. You pay half when you sign and the rest before you receive the film.

Ask for a conversation

Extras, if you like

A vertical version for phones, included in Film
€35
Rush: Verhaal ready in 72 hours
€182
An extra minute on Verhaal
€182
An extra round of changes
€109
Having an approved image made again after the round of changes
€30 per image

All prices include VAT. If you order through your funeral director, you pay them.

A mistake on our side, such as a face that isn’t right or a wrong name or date, we always correct free of charge, whichever film portrait you choose.

If little has been kept, we still make a film, as Verhaal or as Film. You’ll hear the price beforehand.

How it works

A film portrait can be ready for the funeral service. You can also have one made in the weeks after, when things quieten down and there is time to look back. Kort and Verhaal can be ready for the service, and Film is made in the weeks after the funeral. The steps are the same each time.

  1. Ordering

    You order through your funeral director, or directly from us. Your funeral director gives you an envelope. Inside is a card with a QR code and a short list of what to gather. You can also ask us for the card.

  2. Photos and videos

    The QR code, or a link we send you, takes you to a page just for your family. There you add the photos and videos, name and dates, the music you choose and any writing. You don’t have to do it all at once. If it doesn’t work, call us.

  3. Conversation and approval

    For Verhaal and Film we call you within one working day. For Verhaal the conversation takes about a quarter of an hour, and for Film we talk once or twice, for about an hour. You tell us about the person: what they did, how they talked, what made them laugh. Then we send you the selection of images and the story. We only make the film once you say yes. Kort starts straight away.

  4. Making and checking

    We restore the photos, set them gently in motion, add the music and edit the film. One of us watches it from beginning to end before it goes to you.

  5. The film

    You receive a private link to watch and download the film. The file is yours. The link works for 90 days. We return any printed photos, videotapes and slides you have given us.

  6. Changes

    With Kort you can swap one photo, Verhaal includes one round of changes and Film two. A mistake on our side we always correct free of charge.

Kort within 48 hours of receiving your photos.

Verhaal 5 working days after your approval, or 72 hours with rush delivery.

Film in 4 to 6 weeks.

Is the funeral this week? Choose Kort, or Verhaal with rush delivery, and call us as early as you can.

Get in touch

When little has been kept

Sometimes there is almost nothing: three photos and a letter. We still make a film, as Verhaal or as Film. We make it with AI.

From those few photos we make new images and scenes of the person themselves. The photos are the only reference for how they looked, and what happens comes from the facts and from what you tell us. Around the person we make the world of the time: the village or the street in those years, the house, the kitchen, the weather on the wedding day. What public film archives and old Polygoon newsreels hold, we take from there. The rest we make with AI. We read the letter aloud with our narration voice. If you ask us to and there are recordings of the person’s voice, we recreate that voice too, and you hear the letter in their own voice. At the start of the film it says ‘Made or edited with AI’.

Our promises

  • We never make anything up about someone’s life. We work from the facts and from what you tell us.
  • We make new images of someone only from real photos of them. One of us checks that they still look like themselves.
  • We only recreate someone’s voice if you ask us to and there are recordings of it. That voice only says what the person said or wrote themselves.
  • We delete what you send us for the film 30 days after you receive the film.
  • We say what has been made or edited with AI, including a recreated voice, as the EU AI Act requires.

Read how we work

For funeral directors

A family has photos, videos and letters. We make them into a film. There is very little for you to do: you tell the family about it, and if they would like a film, you give them the envelope. Inside is a card with a QR code and a short list of what they can gather. We do the rest.

Kort and Verhaal fit into the arrangement meeting: they can be ready for the funeral service. If a family wants to show the film at the service, call us as early as you can. We’ll tell you straight away whether it can be done and when we need the photos by. Film belongs to aftercare, a few weeks after the funeral, when there is time to look back. It also gives you a good reason to call the family again.

You offer it, hand over the envelope and charge the family the advised price for Kort and Verhaal. Film is agreed directly between the family and us. There is nothing for you to make or approve, and we answer the family’s questions. You get the envelopes from us, with a small card setting out what you can say to a family and how to answer their questions.

A family that comes to us through you remains one of your families. A family that comes to us directly pays the advised price, never less. If a family is not happy, we sort it out with them and keep you informed.

The film is an mp4 file in Full HD (1080p, 16:9), which funeral centres and crematoria can simply play. Give us the venue’s details and we’ll deliver it there directly.

Even if a family thinks there is almost nothing, it is still possible: we can make a film from three photos and a letter.

We put in writing with you what the GDPR (in Dutch, the AVG) requires for families’ personal data. Our privacy statement names the services we use.

The pilot

We are starting with a small number of independent funeral directors. We make their first film portrait free of charge. In return we ask for an honest opinion: yours, and the family’s, if they are willing. If we would then like to show the film to others, we ask the family for written consent first. You’re not committing to anything.

Would you rather see something first? We’re happy to come and show you how we work. Call us on +31 6 41 77 57 58, or let us know below how to reach you.

We only use these details to contact you about the pilot or a first meeting. You can read more in our privacy statement.

What a film portrait costs you, what you earn from it and how we work together are set out in our brochure for funeral professionals.

Download the brochure (PDF)

Contact

If you have a question, or would like to know more first, email or call us. You’re not committing to anything.

hello@abeel.studio
Ivan
+31 6 41 77 57 58
Bogdan
+31 6 25 45 06 79
We answer the phone in English.
Write as much or as little as you like.

Hand-coloured copper engraving of the white poplar: a twig with leaves seen from above and below, and twigs with catkins.
Engraving: Silberpappel (white poplar), plate 8 from J. D. Reitter and G. F. Abel, Abbildung der hundert deutschen wilden Holz-Arten (Stuttgart, 1790–1794).

About the name

Abeel is the Dutch word for the white poplar, also called the silver poplar. Its leaves are dark green on top and white and felted underneath. When the wind blows, the leaves turn over and for a moment the whole tree goes silver-white.

The word goes back to the Late Latin albellus, ‘little white one’. For centuries the abeel has grown in the dunes and polders of the Netherlands, where it copes well with wind and salt. See it in the wind and you see both sides of the leaf.