From the Desert to the Big Screen: halflife* and Xeno

Every so often, a project lands on our desk that reminds us just how wide-ranging this industry can be. Xeno (2025) is one of those — a big-swing sci-fi adventure produced by Kevin Hart's Hartbeat, with halflife* owner David Garcia serving as an assistant editor on the film.

Xeno follows Renee (Lulu Wilson), a fearless teenage girl who stumbles onto a mysterious alien crash-landed in the desert near her home. What starts as a chance encounter becomes a powerful bond, as Renee races to protect her otherworldly new friend from closing-in government agents — all while uncovering a secret that could change both of their worlds. Marketed in the spirit of E.T. and The Iron Giant, the film blends heart, mystery, and old-school creature-feature wonder — helped along by practical creature designs from the legendary Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

The film was written and directed by Matthew Loren Oates in his feature debut, and produced by Kevin Hart, Bryan Smiley, and Luke Kelly-Clyne for Hartbeat, alongside Shana Marie and Jesse Jensen for Tabooma. It features a cast that includes Omari Hardwick, Wrenn Schmidt, Paul Schneider, and Trae Romano, with an original score by Jon Ekstrand (Morbius, Life). Blue Fox Entertainment brought Xeno to theaters nationwide in September 2025.

For David and the halflife* team, working on Xeno meant stepping into the editorial process of a studio-backed feature with A-list producing power behind it — another reminder that the work we do at halflife* isn't confined to one genre, one scale, or one kind of story. Westerns, docuseries, Disney musicals, desert-set sci-fi — if there's a story worth telling, we want a hand in shaping it.