While Higgsfield AI’s latest project, the completely AI-generated absurdist action sci-fi film Hell Grind, found some sort of plot in the pairing of an ethnically ambiguous hero and a monstrous villain, the company’s next project is set in the realm of Central Asian folklore.
The 15-minute animated short film “Kök Börü” is the studio’s first effort since “Hell Grind” premiered at Cannes Film Festival’s marketplace Marché du Film in May. The latest project will be unveiled Wednesday at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles The name “Cock Beaulieu” comes from a traditional equestrian game from Central Asia in which teams of horsemen try to score points by dragging a goat carcass across the finish line. In the film, a nomadic mother, Ana, tries to find the daughter she lost years earlier when her children were hunted down by a pack of wolves.
The project, co-directed by Shakhnazar Borboev and Amira Omirdyan, employed a 10-person animation team to bring “Kök Börü” to life in less than two weeks, a notable difference from the production of “Hell Grind.” The team included three animators, two screenwriters, three sound producers, a sound supervisor, and a color artist, and the company hired actors from Kazakhstan to voice the characters. A combination of Higgsfield tools and Nvidia graphics served as the technical backbone of the production, with animators blending traditional animation techniques with AI.
Borboev and Omirdzian don’t believe that traditional studios wouldn’t have greenlit the film because it focuses on Central Asia, but they believe AI can break through that barrier.
“As an artist from Central Asia, this is the kind of story we grew up watching but rarely see on screen,” Borboev said in a statement. “Films like this don’t always get the chance to get made, so being able to bring our work to the screen means everything to us.”
“Stories like ‘Kök Börü’ rarely make it to the screen because they are often considered too niche or too risky,” Omircan added. “As artists from Central Asia, being able to share our culture and folklore with audiences means everything to us. AI has allowed us to move faster, while keeping artists at the center of every creative decision. This hybrid approach has made it possible for a small team like ours to create a film like this.”
The short film represents the AI-centric studio’s latest effort in adopting a hybrid production model, and comes just days after Utopai Studios announced its upcoming adaptation of “The Most Serious Fart,” which uses AI as a supporting tool rather than generating the entire visuals. Following the premiere of “Kök Börü” at the LA conference, the team will lead conference attendees on a walking panel through the production process.
“Introducing this film and the pipeline behind it will demonstrate what is already possible today,” Higgsfield CEO and co-founder Alex Mashrabov said in a statement. “The goal was never to replace artists, but to give more artists the means to tell stories at this level.”
