– The Silver Bear-winning filmmaker’s German-Korean co-production will employ AI-assisted visual elements while exploring themes of family trauma, belonging and emotional healing
Actress Elisa Hofmann (© NDR/O-Young Kwon)
Korean writer-director Hyo-joo Yang is gearing up for her feature-length directorial debut, Half Moon. Yang first gained international recognition with her short film Broken Night, which won the Sonje Award at the Busan International Film Festival and a Silver Bear at the Berlinale.
The story centres on Yeri and Ah-Jin, a niece and aunt who are strangers to one another despite their family ties. During a summer spent together on a remote North Sea island, the pair gradually develop a fragile bond. Yeri, a 13-year-old Korean-German girl, is isolated, struggling with bullying at school and emotional neglect at home. Ah-Jin lives in self-imposed exile, working as a caregiver while carrying the physical and psychological wounds of her past. Over the course of the summer, the two learn to understand and respect each other, eventually coming to terms with who they are. Through their evolving relationship, the film explores themes of family trauma, belonging and emotional healing.
The cast is led by Rina Kim as Yeri, alongside Elisa Hofmann (House of Yang) as Ah-Jin, and Ana Kim (Now, We Are Breaking Up) rounds off the principal cast as Yeri’s mother, Su-jin.
Half Moon is written by Yang, who commented: “Half Moon is a story about the pain we carry from childhood, the people who unexpectedly teach us how to survive, and the small vows we make to keep going. I wanted to tell a story that begins with alienation, but gradually opens up towards compassion and the possibility of light, even in the darkest moments.”
The cinematography is being handled by Alexandra Medianikova, whose previous credits include the German Film Prize-winning short film Rå and the documentary Beyond the White, for which she received a nomination for the German Cinematography Award.
AI film studio Utopai Studios has come on board as co-producer and investor. According to the company, its proprietary AI filmmaking system, PAI, will be used to support selected visual elements of the production, while the project remains rooted in live-action performances and director-led storytelling. The producers stress that the technology will serve specific creative and production needs while supporting Yang’s artistic vision.
Cecilia Shen, co-founder and CEO of Utopai Studios, stated: “Half Moon represents exactly the kind of filmmaker-driven, internationally relevant story we want to champion: deeply human, visually ambitious and built around a singular creative voice. Some of the most urgent and emotionally powerful films come from independent filmmakers, but too many passion projects struggle to reach audiences because they do not have the infrastructure, resources or market support to move from vision to production.”
Half Moon is a German-Korean co-production being staged by Roshanak Behesht Nedjad for Berlin- and Leipzig-based In Good Company and Younghong Chung for Seoul-based Paper Barn Studios, in co-production with Utopai Studios. The project has already secured the support of the MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in Germany in August.
