Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann

CEO & Founder of DREAMKITE Studios

Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann

Founder & CEO at Yoko Holding GmbH

Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann is the Founder and CEO of a disruptive content studio dedicated to building a future-oriented European AI studio for films, series, short-form, and digital content. Alongside international partners, she develops innovative production models based on generative AI and hybrid film production.

She previously served as CEO of Telepool (a Westbrook Inc. company, owned by Will Smith), where she successfully led a strategic transformation and M&A process, evolving the company into a global powerhouse for premium films, series, and IP across TV, cinema, digital distribution, and streaming. Her extensive leadership track record includes roles as Co-Managing Director at Pantaleon Films (founded by Matthias Schweighöfer), as well as executive positions at Studio Hamburg and Constantin Film, where she gained deep expertise in production, licensing, distribution, and growth strategies.

Her credits include the Oscar-winning film La Vie En Rose, the international blockbuster Asterix at the Olympic Games, the global hit My Blind Date with Life (sold to 54 countries), and the Blue Panther-nominated RTL+ series Herzogpark.
As a leading figure in the German and international entertainment industry, Yoko has been repeatedly recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the "40 Most Powerful Women in International Film" (2023 & 2024) and one of the "35 Most Powerful Women in International Television" (2023). Today, she bridges her decades of experience as a producer, rights expert, and C-level executive with a profound focus on the future of AI-driven media.

Session Details

Presentations & Panel Discussions | Expert StageAI Update: Latest AI Use Cases from Germany16:00 - 17:15 Expert StageThe three most advanced AI productions in Germany right now, presented by the people making them. Mark Wachholz and Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann bring their brand-new company DREAMKITE Studios to the stage for the first time. They introduce “The Wind Before the Name”, an ambitious feature-length project conceived to be generated entirely with AI. Chapter41 (Beta Film) and X Filme Creative Pool show “VOLCANO HIGH”, where the performances are real and the world around them is generated with AI. And Tim Greve of seven200 AI Studios and director Rainer Matsutani of Red Sun Films open up an AI-generated animation project while it is still being made. From full AI to hybrid production to work in progress, the session shows what generative AI production in Germany looks like right now.

Session Details

What does the cutting edge of generative AI production in Germany look like right now? This session brings together the three most advanced AI productions in Germany today – a full-AI cinema production, a hybrid live-action/AI short and an AI-generated animation project still in development.

“The Wind Before the Name”

Mark Wachholz & Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann | DREAMKITE Studios

DREAMKITE Studios introduces “The Wind Before the Name”, an ambitious feature-length cinema project conceived to be generated entirely with AI. Its fully GenAI-created concept trailer has already been selected for the 2026 Future Vision XPRIZE and is in the running for the SPECS Audience Choice Award. Mark Wachholz and Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann give an early look at the project and discuss how they plan to take it from concept to feature-length production.

Newly founded by Wachholz and Higuchi-Zitzmann, DREAMKITE takes the #MTHCON stage for its first joint conference appearance as a company.

“VOLCANO HIGH”

Lars Stark | Chapter41 (Beta Film)
Sarika Hemi Lakhani | X Filme Creative Pool

Chapter41 and X Filme Creative Pool present “VOLCANO HIGH”, a hybrid short film shot with real actors and transformed through generative AI in post-production. The performances remain untouched, while environments, architecture and crowds are rebuilt around them — making AI not just a production tool, but part of the film’s visual language.

“Being Bexly”

Tim Greve | seven200. AI Studios
Rainer Matsutani | Red Sun Films

Tim Greve and director Rainer Matsutani open up an AI-generated animation project while it is still taking shape. Rather than presenting a finished result, they give the audience a rare look inside an ongoing production — and at the creative and production decisions being made along the way.

From Full AI to Hybrid to Work in Progress, the three cases show how far generative AI production in Germany has already moved beyond experimentation — and what filmmakers and producers are actually making with it today.