Utopai Studios has come on board as a co-producer and investor in Half Moon, the new German-Korean live-action feature from Hyo-joo Yang, as it continues to advance its global, filmmaker-driven production studio model.
Half Moon will be co-produced by Germany’s In Good Company and Korea’s Paper Barn Studios, alongside Utopai Studios, with support from German public funding. It will feature the use of PAI, Utopai Studios’ cinematic storytelling AI system, in select visual elements. PAI is being used as a production tool, with the film remaining grounded in live-action performance, director-led storytelling, and traditional cinematic craft.
“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,” said Cecilia Shen, co-founder and CEO of Utopai Studios. “Utopai Studios is building a new studio model to help change that. 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.”
“With Half Moon, we are backing Hyo-joo Yang, a talented and bold filmmaker, and the type of international co-production Utopai Studios wants to support,” said Hyun Park, president of Utopai Studios East. “One of our goals is to help filmmakers realize cinematic moments that may otherwise be difficult to achieve within the constraints of independent film financing – in service of the director’s vision and film’s emotional core.”
