Neill Blomkamp Directs 13-Minute AI Short 'NIGHTBORNE' as Test Run for Full AI Feature

Neill Blomkamp, director of "District 9," has released "NIGHTBORNE," a 13-minute sci-fi horror short generated entirely using Seedance 2.0. Framed as a documentary-style story about a U.S. Army pilot entangled in a classified soldier-resurrection program, the film was directed entirely through prompts. Blomkamp describes it as a "full test" of the workflow, with concept artists providing designs and 32 real people lending their likenesses and voices under agreement — but every frame AI-generated.

Blomkamp announced via X that NIGHTBORNE is only the first step toward a full-length AI feature film. The project arrives as the director faces a long track record of ambitious sci-fi films that struggled to find studio backing, and has drawn a sharply negative reaction from fans who see it as a departure from the craft that defined his earlier work. Along with directors Roger Avary and Alex Proyas, Blomkamp is emerging as one of the more prominent Hollywood voices openly embracing AI as a primary production tool.