This is an awesome intersection of my day job and my volunteer work with CodeAI, not to mention my love for Indian storytelling which was born from my UCLA class in 1991 when i read the Mahabharata and Ramanaya!
My colleagues at Adobe just turned me on to a fun project called Kathāvatār- Indian folklore reimagined using Adobe Firefly. Kathāvatār is a collection of five short films created in partnership with India Film Project (IFP) and five visionary Indian filmmakers, exploring how timeless folklore can be reimagined through modern creative tools.
Rooted in Indian myths, folktales, and artistic traditions, each film blends human imagination, expressive storytelling, and AI-assisted creativity to build immersive, sensory-rich visual worlds.
From Himalayan legends and Panchatantra tales to regional folklore from Bengal and celebrations like Makar Sankranti, these stories reflect a balance between cultural heritage and contemporary filmmaking. The filmmakers utilized AI on Adobe Firefly, Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects as creative collaborators, helping visualize ideas, explore new aesthetics, and streamline production.
Here are the AI Short films from the Kathāvatār project :
Yapasouraus
Migoi
Language of birds
Uttarayan
The barbers secret
And here are the Behind The Scenes videos that show the production process and interviews with the creative teams that made the films:
Yapasouarus
Migoi
Language of birds
Uttarayan
The barber’s secret
Forest Key's Blog 