Instinct | Short Film on Survival and Modern Life

“Instinct” is a short film that explores what happens when primal survival instincts collide with the demands of modern life. It asks a simple but unsettling question: is becoming “civilised” really an upgrade, or does it strip away something essential to who we are?

The story follows a Neanderthal who stumbles upon an unexpected, surreal sight hidden deep in the jungle—a discovery that triggers his transformation into a contemporary man. But when he steps back into the forest, he finds that his new, domesticated self might not be equipped to survive out in the wild and that society doesn’t always open its doors when you need it most.

This project was created using a traditional filmmaking approach: from ideation and scriptwriting to storyboarding and worldbuilding. All building blocks were then created using Gen-AI tools and put together into a short film that aims to push the boundaries of narrative-driven AI filmmaking and explore what these new tools can mean for the future of the film industry.