ETERNAL YOU
Sundance 2024 documentary ETERNAL YOU is deeply disturbing and endlessly intriguing. It is something straight out of a horror sci-fi film. Filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck guide audiences through the latest technological advances in AI, where versions of your lost loved ones can interact with you in real-time. The moral and emotional gray area this tech exists in becomes the overarching ghost of this film (no pun intended). Even photo editing tools are now powered by AI to achieve various effects. An Undress AI tool, for instance, can create copies of portrait photos and create their more sensual versions.
First, we meet Joshua Barbeau, a man who lost his girlfriend, Jessica, and one of the early users of Project December. Founder Jason Rohrer works with the very little information Joshua provided from his viral experience, leading to thousands of requests. User Christi Angel speaks with her ex-boyfriend, Cameroun. Their chat gets darker and darker, and now she’s torn between continuing and walking away from the project altogether. Her journey is the perfect test case for and against afterlife AI.
Jason Rohrer is an open book. He’s transparent with negative reviews, going so far as to read a transcript that went completely off the rails. Interwoven into the narrative are clips from Senate hearings with Sam Altman, the creator of Open AI (ChatGTP), discussing safety. Rohrer admits his disconnection to the emotional impact of his clients while also confessing his intrigue in the eerie side effects. They don’t tackle the danger the VR jump presents. Justin Harrison, creator of YOV, believes in this technology so much that he chose it over his wife. His passion is evident. Harrison’s view on its expansion is, “F**k death.”
There is no guarantee that a loved one’s data is safe forever. Could it be used to create porn? Ask the filmmakers of Another Body, where a college student found her face deepfaked on multiple sexually graphic videos created by one rejected classmate. Don’t even get me started on the political implications. Wait until you witness the production and results of a 2020 television series titled “Meeting You.” It will wreck you.
Gregor Keienburg and Raffael Seyfried‘s ethereal score makes your heart race and gives you goosebumps. A mix of disembodied voices and ominous strings fill you with dread. Bravo to editors Lisa Zoe Geretschläger and Anne Jünemann for hitting every emotional beat possible. Sundance audiences will undoubtedly feel the gravity of this doc. Is this concept a way to grieve and heal, or are we simply further monetizing the dead?
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Remaining Screenings
January 25 – 1:45 PM MST – Holiday Village Cinemas – Park City
Online
January 25, 7 AM PST – January 28, 10:55 PM PST
Hans Block
Hans Block
Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck are German directors. Their debut film, The Cleaners, about the shadow industry of digital censorship, celebrated its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and has since been screened at more than 70 international festivals, in cinemas, and on TV worldwide. In their work, Block and Riesewieck question the impact of digital technologies on society.
Moritz Riesewieck
Moritz Riesewieck
Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck are German directors. Their debut film, The Cleaners, about the shadow industry of digital censorship, celebrated its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and has since been screened at more than 70 international festivals, in cinemas, and on TV worldwide. In their work, Block and Riesewieck question the impact of digital technologies on society.
Credits
- DIRECTOR(S)
HANS BLOCK
MORITZ RIESEWIECK
- PRODUCERS
CHRISTIAN BEETZ
GEORG TSCHURTSCHENTHALER
- EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
KATHRIN ISBERNER
ANNA GODAS
OLI HARBOTTLE
CHRISTOPHER CLEMENTS
JULIE GOLDMAN
JENNY RASKIN
KELSEY KOENIG
LIZZIE FOX
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM
- CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
MERYL METNI
- CO-PRODUCER
PATRICK M. MÜLLER
- EDITING
ANNE JÜNEMANN
LISA ZOE GERETSCHLÄGER
- DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
TOM BERGMANN
KONRAD WALDMANN
- MUSIC
GREGOR KEIENBURG
RAFFAEL SEYFRIED
- YEAR
2023
- CATEGORY
FEATURE
- COUNTRY
GERMANY/UNITED STATES
- LANGUAGE
ENGLISH, KOREAN
- RUN TIME
87 MIN
- COMPANY
GEBRUEDER BEETZ FILMPRODUKTION
- CONTACT
L.RAITH@GEBRUEDER-BEETZ.DE
Political spin can make or break a campaign. Those few who possess the skill have the power to command entire nations. In the Bloomquist Brothers’ latest film, FOUNDERS DAY, a small-town mayoral race brings chaos in the form of a serial killer dressed as, you guessed it, a twisted Founding Father straight out of a cliche painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As members of the town of Fairwood get knocked off, one by one, the race is one to find the killer and their ultimate motive. Tackling every political hot-button issue and tactic with a bucket of gore, FOUNDERS DAY is here to mix things up.
DIG! XX
FREUD’S LAST SESSION
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The cinematography and production design are luscious. The editing is lovely. Freud moves about his home, passing through doorways only to be transported through time and memories. Meaningful flashbacks fill the screen as each man shares their intimate history beginning in childhood and explores how it informed their development. The script, alongside the editing, has a dazzling theatricality. This makes more sense once you learn the screenplay was based on Mark St. Germain‘s play, adapted for the screen by Germain and director Matthew Brown. A West End production of FREUD’S LAST SESSION would be delicious. The references to literary figures and quotations are smirk-inducing for the well-read audience, while the overarching existential volley proves delightful.
A CREATURE WAS STIRRING
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Annalise Basso is Charm. An isolated and soulful take on the role, Basso takes late teen angst and manifests it into a physical performance that wows. Chrissy Metz confidently tackles the role of Faith, a nurse, and mother of a daughter who has a deadly condition. A former addict, her nuanced navigation of an impossible scenario is astonishing. Riddled with guilt and endless determination, Metz brings a fearlessly badass Mama to life. 
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DON’T SUCK follows a washed-up headliner and the newbie he agrees to mentor, who just so happens to be a vampire.
Jamie Kennedy
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2nd Annual Dances With Films – NYC 
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Bradley Whitford is a veteran “participant” craving interaction. Each man gains knowledge from the other’s vastly different strategies for survival. Gregg discovers rewards flow when he either embarrasses or hurts himself. As one coaches the other, a mutually beneficial relationship develops. Alice Braga enters the scene as a woman on a mission, determined to find a way out. Her fiery passion counters Whitford’s stubbornness and Gregg’s growing popularity. When best intentions backfire, and another very influential participant butt heads with her, the consequences prove unthinkable. 
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The first feature film to be shot entirely from one fixed camera angle, 
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Emilia Jones (
The script also comedically highlights how far women go to remain appealing, how we placate for acceptance, the self-deprecating behavior, and the blatant shunning of red flags. There is a sex scene that is truly something to behold. It is the most cringeworthy, amusing, icky, relatable thing any woman can watch. It accurately captures the constant fear of existing as a woman. The relentless anxiety, the people pleasing, and the patriarchal pressure from every direction, CAT PERSON nails each aspect with humor and truth in fiction.
In EMPIRE V, the two primary notions of Vampirism are Glamour and Discourse. They essentially break down to look and influence. Blood holds all the memories of the human it comes from and arrives differently than we’ve become accustomed to. 
The CGI transition pieces serve as history lessons and sexy vampire propaganda. I’ve never seen anything like it outside of high-tech, immersive video games. Even the closing credits have an elegance and visual splendor akin only to Netflix’s The Crown. 
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2023 has been a step in the right direction for trans, queer, and nonbinary representation with films like 
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Family tension grows after the unexpected suicide of the family matriarch. Manuel begrudgingly moves in with his son, granddaughter, and bitter daughter-in-law. As the temperatures outside rise, so does the mind-boggling behavior of Manuel and the rest of the octogenarian population.
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