An AI-generated South African drama, Mountain of Graves, tells the story of two brothers fighting to protect an ancestral burial site. The series unfolds across vertical episodes, with the conflict taking a supernatural turn.
Mountain of Graves, produced by DragonStudios.ai, has been selected as a finalist at the third annual Neu Wave AI Film Festival in the topview AI vertical drama category. The show is available to stream on Buka Africa, a mobile-first entertainment platform that commissioned the ten-episode thriller.
The story follows brothers Thumi and Kabelo as they try to stop a mining company taking control of the mountain where their ancestors are buried.
They approach the fight differently. Thumi turns to his spirituality, planting a spear in the red earth. Kabelo, on the other hand, searches the archives for another way to protect the land. Their struggle develops a supernatural edge when the mountain begins fighting back.
The series is designed for the vertical screen of a smartphone rather than a television. The episodes run for about 90 seconds each, turning the story into a roughly 15-minute experience divided into short chapters.
Mountain of Graves is particularly unusual because of the production process behind it.
DragonStudios.ai says the series was produced entirely using AI filmmaking platforms. However, the storytelling has credited human creators. Dragon Studios creative leads Donovan Marsh and Steven Cholerton wrote the series in collaboration with creator and writer Phuti Lehong.
The production shows how AI can be used across an entire episodic project. Rather than limiting generative technology to a single visual effect or experimental scene, Mountain of Graves uses AI filmmaking platforms throughout the production.
Marsh has spent decades working in conventional filmmaking. His directing credits include South African movies Spud and iNumber Number, as well as the international action film Hunter Killer, starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman.
“Mountain of Graves is just the latest demonstration of what we’re able to produce by embracing the possibilities of creating cinematic stories entirely generated by artificial intelligence,” says Marsh.
He argues that AI can help African filmmakers create stories that would otherwise require larger production budgets, while also supporting conventional filmmaking through elements such as visual effects.
“We want to help take African stories and films to international audiences and believe that AI plays an important role in creating new films from scratch, supplementing the worlds filmmakers create with traditional locations and actors and providing essential components like visual effects to producers at a fraction of the traditional cost, to help our stories take their rightful place on the global stage.”
The Neu Wave AI Film Festival focuses specifically on filmmakers working with AI. The third edition takes place in Santa Monica, California, on 14 October 2026, with the festival positioning itself at the meeting point between conventional filmmaking and emerging AI production tools.
* ‘Mountain of Graves’ is available to stream on Buka here.
* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and deputy editor of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky at @jas2bann.