Two veteran filmmakers spearhead Korea’s first AI-powered feature, hoping to ignite a new era in Korean cinema.

Director Kang Yun-seong, alongside AI director Kwon Han-seul, is making a now-or-never leap into AI cinema with Midrealm, Korea’s first feature-length film to deploy artificial intelligence at its core. The mid-range action thriller follows people trapped in the in-between realm between life and death, as soul-reapers descend to erase their traces. The cast includes Byeon Yo-han, Kim Kang-woo, Bang Hyo-rin, Im Hyung-jun, Yang Se-jong, and Lee Moo-saeng. It opened in domestic theaters on the 15th.

Speaking to reporters a day before the release, Kang and Kwon spoke with a mix of exhilaration and trepidation about delivering a film no one has seen before. “Midrealm is a film that ends in the middle,” Kang explains. “OTT series can end like that, but I worried whether that would feel right for a movie. Production realities forced us toward a series-like structure, and carrying a fixed release date made the process, frankly, a thousand times heavier. There’s a lot I wish we could have done differently in terms of completeness.”

Still, both directors insist technology will continue to evolve, reshaping the very paradigm of AI-augmented cinema. “Technology will keep advancing, and so will the filmmaking paradigm that uses it. Costs and time will be used more efficiently as we move forward. I’m honored to be part of the start of that shift, working with excellent directors, crew and actors. If this film performs well at the box office, I’d love to release a Part 2.”

Placed squarely in the realm of experimentation, Midrealm began as a daring spark. Kang recalls that the idea emerged when he and his team were considering how to energize a stalling Korean film industry. “I was approached with a bold proposal: to craft a roughly 10-minute AI sequence while shooting the drama Pine: The Country Bumpkins. I told them, if we’re going to do this, let’s make a movie. I revisited a screenplay I had written 25 years ago and reshaped it for today. Korean cinema isn’t thriving on a few mega-hits; I believed the answer lay in AI. If Midrealm succeeds, maybe the market can rebound.”

The Dubai International AI Film Festival crowned the project’s ambition with Best Picture and Audience Awards, and Kang—who also runs an AI startup—had been contacted repeatedly with similar requests for AI-driven features. This time, he teamed with Kwon Han-seul, whose entrepreneurship and tech background helped balance audacity with feasibility. Despite a 60-minute AI-driven concept, the collaborators conceded the task was daunting and sat at the edge of what’s possible.

“Meeting the demands of actors and creatures alike presented real limits,” Kang says. “Rather than pitting humans directly against AI-created beings, we chose to render the antagonists as almost invincible, transcendental beings. A demon who can be consumed by Enma’s coins, for instance, would burn the body if it took a bite. That way, humans simply run or hide instead of staging a physical clash.” Some have criticized the film for under-utilizing its strong cast, but Kang argues the setup is apt for an AI-driven project of this scale.

In planning, the team spent a great deal of time distinguishing what could be achieved with AI and what could not. Much of the early vision proved unfeasible, but incremental progress—fueled by evolving technology and clever problem-solving—made a version of the concept possible. Audiences will notice how the AI and real cinematography blur the line; some parts are purely AI creations, while others are captured with live-action and then transformed or integrated with AI-driven elements.

AI directing isn’t as straightforward as simply telling the machine, “Make this scene.” Instead, each shot is meticulously designed with lensing, lighting, and other parameters to produce a scene that the AI then renders. Because AI introduces a degree of randomness, the team generates multiple variants, compares them, and selects the versions that best match their vision. The result is a process that feels hybrid—part creative intuition, part computational exploration.

One notable character, Enma (the judge of the underworld), is treated as a surprisingly relatable figure, inviting audiences to rethink their preconceptions about the afterlife. Midrealm aims to surprise with its tonal choices, including a sequence in which Enma morphs into a tentacled creature—an idea that required substantial technological collaboration and constant idea exchange between Kang and Kwon. The intention was to give an otherwise formidable, iconic figure a human-like, approachable presence even as it becomes something otherworldly.

Constraints of reality also sharpened the project’s resolve. The most critical hurdle remains budget. If possible, the filmmakers would have preferred to present the story uninterrupted, but filling long sequences with AI would have been prohibitively expensive. As a self-proclaimed series-in-waiting project, this first installment aims to win over audiences and secure investment for future AI-infused endeavors. The team is targeting a break-even point around 200,000 admissions and hopes the film’s reception will pave the way for more ambitious experiments by the entire cast and crew.

The duo is pleased to have completed Korea’s inaugural AI-driven feature and sees AI as a catalyst for broader change across the industry. “This is the starting point,” one of them notes. “AI will be integrated into a wider range of film production, expanding the creative horizon. I’m genuinely happy to have contributed to that moment.”