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Poster of ‘Raphael’ (provided by Mateo AI Studio)

On May 18, Raphael, South Korea's first full AI-generated feature film — co-directed by Yang Ik-june, Moon Sin-woo, and Jung Ju-won — made its international debut at the Cannes Marché du Film. Director Yang Ik-june presented approximately five minutes of footage at an official Kling AI conference session, offering the first public look at a project that reimagines what a small team can produce: a film that, had it been shot on conventional live-action, would have required hundreds of crew members and a production budget of up to $2 million USD — achieved here by a team of just seven, using AI.

Also on the panel were American director Jon Erwin, known for the Amazon Prime Video series The Old Stories: Moses, and Chinese animation director Wei Li. The global session focused on real-world AI filmmaking workflows, and Raphael was presented as a Korean case study.

The project traces its origins to the 2024 New Media New Technology Lab, a program administered by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). The three directors, who met through the program, went on to establish a production entity, Mateo AI Studio, and set up a co-production structure with MBC C&I. Full production began in August 2025 and ran for approximately nine months. The team drew on around twelve features within the Kling AI video generation platform, supplementing AI-generated output with Photoshop work to maintain consistent character appearance and visual tone across scenes.

Raphael illustrates what AI can make possible beyond simple production assistance: a realistic pathway for emerging filmmakers to clear the formidable barriers to feature-length production. Working without substantial capital or extensive production infrastructure, the team was able to operate with a significantly reduced crew — and to attempt sequences, including large-scale battle scenes, that would have been out of reach for a conventional micro-budget production. Now in post-production with a domestic theatrical release planned for later this year, Raphael will face its most meaningful test when it reaches actual audiences — and with it, the broader question of what AI-generated feature filmmaking can truly deliver.

Sources

• Cine21, "'Defining Cinema for a New Chapter' — An Interview with Raphael Director Yang Ik-june," 2026.06.05

• Deadline, "AI Can Assist Rather Than Replace Existing Production Methods, Say Filmmakers On Kling AI Panel: 'I Want To Work With The Same Crew Members But In Real Time'," 2026.05.20

• AI Times, "Raphael, an AI Feature Film, Makes Its Global Debut at Cannes Marché du Film," 2026.05.19

• Screen Daily, "Filmmakers stress creative benefits of artificial intelligence at Cannes' Kling AI panel," 2026.05.21