Higgsfield brings Central Asian AI short Kök Börü to SIGGRAPH
The studio behind Hell Grind is premiering a 15-minute animated short rooted in Central Asian folklore at SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Higgsfield AI is following its fully AI-generated feature “Hell Grind” with a very different ride: a 15-minute animated short inspired by Central Asian folklore and made by a 10-person team in two weeks, Variety reported.
The new film, “Kök Börü,” is set to premiere Wednesday at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles, according to Variety. It is the studio’s first project since “Hell Grind” screened in May at Marché du Film, the Cannes Film Festival’s marketplace.
“Kök Börü” takes its title from a traditional Central Asian horseback game. In the sport, mounted teams compete by dragging a goat carcass toward a goal line to score points, Variety reported.
The short tells the story of Ana, a nomadic mother searching for a daughter who was taken years earlier by a wolf pack after both of her children were cornered, according to the report.
A small team, a fast build
The film was co-directed by Shakhnazar Borboev and Amira Ömirjan. Variety reported that the production team included three animators, two screenwriters, three sound producers, a sound supervisor and a color artist.
Higgsfield also brought in native Kazakh actors to voice the characters, according to the report. The production used Higgsfield tools and Nvidia graphics, with animators combining AI with traditional animation methods.
Borboev and Ömirjan told Variety they do not believe a conventional studio would likely have approved a project centered on Central Asian culture. They said AI helped lower that barrier for a small team while keeping artists in charge of the work.
“As artists from Central Asia, this is the kind of story we grew up with but almost never see on screen,” Borboev said in a statement. “Films like this don’t always get the chance to be made, so being able to bring ours to the screen means everything to us.”
Ömirjan said stories such as “Kök Börü” are often viewed by the industry as “too niche or too risky.”
“As artists from Central Asia, being able to bring our culture and folklore to audiences means everything to us,” Ömirjan said. “AI helped us move faster, while artists remained at the center of every creative decision. This hybrid approach made a film like this possible for a small team like ours.”
AI studios push hybrid production
The premiere comes as AI-focused studios test different ways of using the technology in film production. Variety noted that Utopai Studios recently announced an adaptation of “The Most Serious Fart” that will use AI as an assistive tool rather than to generate all visuals.
After the “Kök Börü” premiere at SIGGRAPH, the team is set to host a panel explaining how the short was made, according to Variety.
Higgsfield CEO and co-founder Alex Mashrabov said the screening and panel are meant to show what the production process can already do.
“Showcasing this film and the pipeline behind it will demonstrate what’s already possible today,” Mashrabov said in a statement. “The goal was never to replace artists, but to give more of them the means to tell stories at this level.”
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.