SINGAPORE: The creators of a new AI-assisted short film set in what looks like Singapore are bracing for public backlash, stating they expect their project to polarise audiences and generate heated criticism.
The four-minute work depicts a National Day Parade under attack by a lethal spore pathogen outbreak that turns people into zombie-like creatures. While it takes place in the fictional country Lionara, the visuals feature local settings such as the Marina Bay skyline and the Merlion.
Made by Singapore-based studio Edenstone, the film titled Bersama Majulah (Together Onwards in Malay) will be released on sporefall.com on Aug 9.
The film is a spinoff of Edenstone’s AI animation series Spore Fall, which was released on sporefall.com in March. The sci-fi microdrama follows characters such as a soldier and a medic struggling to survive the crisis caused by the pathogen outbreak.
Bersama Majulah is helmed by Singaporean creator and showrunner Joel Boh, and its Singaporean executive producer is Chan Gin Kai, who won a Golden Horse Award in 2025 for Best Animated Feature as a producer for the animated film Another World (2025).
Bersama Majulah’s official theme song is composed by local musician Dharma Sadasivan.
Boh says in a press statement: “Some have asked why we would show a dystopian Singapore on National Day. We believe this is the ultimate act of faith.
“We have faith that the Singapore identity is not fragile - it is strong enough to be reimagined and reinvented. In the face of existential threat, the singular Singapore narrative is about choosing unity over fear.”
The local production debuts amid global scrutiny surrounding AI in the entertainment industry.
In China, the AI-generated microdrama The Peach Blossom Hairpin (2026) was recently taken down after models and influencers accused the creators of using their facial features and outfits without consent.
In response to growing concerns over digital fraud, Chinese regulators have mandated that all AI-generated content carry explicit labels and digital watermarks starting Sept 1.
Similarly, in the United States, entertainment guilds like the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA have established strict industry rules to protect creators’ jobs and likenesses.
To address these ethical concerns, the creators of Bersama Majulah are positioning their project as a “human-written, AI-realised” production. Edenstone says that human authors are entirely behind the narrative, scripts, characters, emotional arcs and world-building, while AI is deployed strictly under human creative direction to accelerate the production of visual assets.
“Our mission is to prove that Singapore can compete on the global stage,” Boh says. “AI now accelerates our journey - turning past constraints into our next creative frontier.”
“Technology should serve the story, not the other way around,” he adds, emphasising that the technology is meant to scale the team’s visual output rather than replace human creative authorship. - The Straits Times/ANN
