A Turkish production team is turning figures from Turkic mythology into a planned nine-film fantasy series, using artificial intelligence to create its visuals, in a project its makers describe as the start of a wider cinematic universe.
The film, titled Yeşim Taşı Efsanesi (The Legend of the Jade Stone), is directed and produced by Serdar Çetinkaya and based on a book series by Ömer Ünal published under the Kronik Çocuk children’s imprint, Anadolu Agency reported. Screenwriter Murat Akkuş designed the world of the story together with Çetinkaya.
Three friends, two worlds
The story follows three friends, Oğuz, Umay and Berk, who are summoned by Bilge Kağan to the Green World and are drawn into a struggle against the Dark World ruled by Erlik Han, the lord of the underworld in Turkic and Altaic belief. Its themes include friendship, solidarity, courage and the bond between people and nature.
The makers say several lesser-known mythological figures will be shown on screen for the first time. Akkuş pointed to the tulpar, the winged horse of Central Asian legend, which he described as the Turkish counterpart of the Greek Pegasus that audiences know from Western films.
Çetinkaya summed up the project’s aim by saying the team wanted Turkish stories to be told by Turks themselves.
AI-made images and Turkish lip-sync
The production uses artificial intelligence for its visuals, with dedicated AI directors and a supervisor in the crew. The team said it reworked scenes repeatedly until tone, composition, colour and light met its standards. Because AI tools have tended to perform better in English, it developed phonetics-based methods to match lip movements to Turkish dialogue.
The plan calls for three films from each of the three books. Board games, digital and mobile games are to be launched alongside the film, and the team presents the project as intellectual property rather than a single movie. No release date, budget or voice cast has been announced.
A growing interest in Turkic legends
Turkic mythology, with its sky god Tengri, shamanic traditions and heroes of the steppe, has long featured in Turkish literature and television historical dramas, but has rarely been the basis for large fantasy productions. The use of AI for a full feature-length project is also new for the Turkish film industry, where debate over the technology’s effect on visual effects artists and animators is growing.
Sources
- Türk mitolojisinin kahramanları ‘Yeşim Taşı Efsanesi’ ile beyaz perdeye taşınıyor (Anadolu Ajansı)
- Türk mitolojisinden yeni bir fantastik sinema evreni: Yeşim taşı efsanesi (Hürriyet)
Photo: Vezirtonyukuk / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
