Prototype — Taegyu Seo

Name: Prototype
Duration: 51 min

2026 · ANIMATION · 51 MIN

In the near future, an age of planetary colonization, Aran is sent to a remote colony planet as a volunteer medical officer. When an unidentified boy arrives with a gunshot wound, she begins treating him—only for the base’s administrators to turn on the medical team without explanation. Killed alongside her colleagues, Aran finds herself, at the moment of her last breath, back where she was hours earlier: receiving word of the boy’s arrival… Caught in repeating time, she struggles to protect her patient and colleagues. As she follows each new clue, she begins to discover that at the heart of it all lies the boy who has yet to regain consciousness.

Film, trailer and credits

Festival record

Synopsis

In the near future, an age of planetary colonization. Aran is a gifted doctor who completed medical school and passed the national licensing examination at just nineteen, the youngest ever to do so. But years on the front lines of an emergency trauma center, marked by medical accidents and relentless stress, have left her burned out. Half by choice and half by circumstance, she is sent to serve as a volunteer medical officer at Outpost 17 on a quiet, remote colony planet.

The peace she hoped for is shattered one stormy night. The outpost’s residents bring in an unidentified boy with a gunshot wound to the face. As Aran and her fellow medical staff treat him, the base director and head of security attack them for reasons no one can explain. None of the medical team survives.

Yet at the moment of her death, an inexplicable time loop sends Aran back several hours. She wakes at the very instant she receives the call about the gunshot victim, only to face the same attacks from the director and the people of the outpost all over again. Repeatedly thrown back in time, she struggles to protect her colleagues and patient. Gradually, she discovers that everything is connected to the mysterious boy who remains unconscious…

Both doctor and detective, can Aran uncover the secrets of Outpost 17 and the world around her, and escape the endlessly repeating time loop?

Director’s Note

Welcome to the world of Prototype.

This film does not strive for the seamless perfection of a typical blockbuster. Instead, it is a visual adventure—an invitation to discover a new kind of beauty within the slightly uncanny and awkward imagery generated by AI.

The core of this experience lies in the contrast: the deeply human stories hidden within these artificial characters. I hope you notice the strange dissonance that arises when rigid, NPC-like figures begin to share the very same burdens we carry every day—our daily anxieties, our fear of the future, and our constant FOMO.

I invite you to dive into this bizarre and philosophical time loop. As you do, perhaps you'll entertain a playful yet eerie thought: what if we, sitting on this side of the screen, are also just "prototypes" in someone else’s grand simulation?

About the Film

Prototype is a free-form animation that explores the possibilities and limitations of AI filmmaking. Utilizing the unique premise of characters existing in a virtual world, it sublimates the inherent awkwardness and technical flaws of AI-generated footage through deliberate artistic techniques. Through this approach, the audience can naturally embrace a completely new visual style and worldview.

Furthermore, this project captures the anxiety and fear of modern people living in the AI era, particularly technological alienation, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), uncertainty about the future, and environmental crises. Through the profound, human dialogue of characters resembling NPC avatars, the audience can glimpse the realities of modern society. Ultimately, this work is designed to evoke a chilling sense of horror that our reality might be just another simulation.