WHAT IF YOU NEVER HAD TO SAY GOODBYE
TO A LOVED ONE?
THIS JANUARY, DELVE INTO THAT QUESTION WITH A SUNDANCE GRAND JURY NOMINEE EXPLORING THE
WORLD OF START-UPS USING AI TO CREATE AVATARS
OF THE DECEASED
PREMIERING VIA VOD & LEADING DIGITAL OUTLETS ON
JANUARY 24, 2025
“Fascinating…A frank exploration of a seriously hot topic.”
— Nikki Baughan, Screen Daily
“A necessary warning klaxon for our culture’s increasing inability to accept death, just as it finds a techno-economic structure happy to oblige it.”
— Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine
“Urgent and timely.”
— Carmen Gray, The Film Verdict
“A sprawling portrait of the emerging business that is digital afterlife technology.”
— Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone
“Absorbing and, frequently, disturbing….”
— Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
“AI is a genie let out of the bottle, for better or worse. Eternal You gives us a taste of both, making for an experience that is equal parts enlightening, heartbreaking, and infuriating — much like real grief.”
— Kristy Puchko, Mashable
SYNOPSIS
As the AI revolution continues to evolve almost daily, it’s having a meaningful impact on our lives in numerous ways. But can it impact our deaths? ETERNAL YOU, a feature-length documentary from Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, delves into the world of AI startups that “connect with the dead” through digital doppelgangers. A 2024 Sundance Grand Jury nominee and an Official Selection at numerous top tier fests including Hot Docs, CPH: DOX and Sheffield, ETERNAL YOU invites audiences everywhere to ponder that thorny ethical question when it premieres on January 24 via VOD and all leading digital platforms including Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
What if a person’s death did not mean their end of life? What if their loved ones could still talk to them long after their body has been cremated or buried? What sounds like the scenario of a science fiction movie is already offered by AI startups today and ETERNAL YOU examines the story of people who are immortalized as “digital doppelgangers” allowing them to interact with loved ones. Filmmakers Block and Riesewieck explore one of the latest major breakthroughs in AI technology and through interviews with end-users, tech experts, journalists, programmers and psychologists, a broad and analytical account unfolds to reveal the far-reaching and often disturbing implications of this new technology. Can a digital entity compensate for the loss of a loved one? Who takes responsibility for the psychological and ethical consequences? And, do we not have the right to forget?
Winner of the Best Scientific Documentary at Docville and Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco Int’l Film Festival, ETERNAL YOU both glimpses what the future of death in capitalism holds and examines what the human costs may be.
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHIES
Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck are German writers and directors. Their debut film, The Cleaners, about the shadow industry of digital censorship celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and has since been screened at more than 70 international film festivals, in cinemas and on TV worldwide. It was nominated for an Emmy and the German Television Award and has received numerous international prizes, including the Prix Europa for the Best European TV documentary film 2018 and the Grimme Audience Award 2019. Their TED talk on freedom of expression on the internet reached an audience of millions. Their essay ‘The Digital Soul – Becoming immortal in the era of Artificial Intelligence’ was published in Germany, Korea and Italy among others. Under the label “Laokoon” Block, Riesewieck and social designer Cosima Terrasse develop innovative theatre and crossmedia projects. Their artistic data experiment “Made to Measure” which premiered at the international media art festival Ars lectronica in Linz was nominated for several different international prizes and won the renowned “Information is beautiful”-award 2022. Their theater plays have been shown at Burgtheater in Vienna, Muenchner Kammerspiele and other renowned theatres in Europe.
Source: Film Movement