Eternal You

Start-ups are using artificial intelligence to digitally “resurrect” the dead. Surviving relatives can talk to the avatars of the deceased as if they were still alive. The documentary film Eternal You - Vom Ende der Endlichkeit tells of curious, amusing and disturbing encounters with the digital undead and the psychological, ethical and philosophical questions that arise from digital immortality.

The documentary was based on the book of the same name by the two directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, which was published in 2022.

The two have already made the Emmy-nominated documentary The Cleaners - Im Schatten der Netzwelt together. Since 2015, they have been exploring digital topics together using documentary and theatrical methods, since 2018 together with artist Cosima Terrasse under the label Laokoon. The group combines investigative research with various forms of artistic expression. This results in essays, documentary films, theater productions, lectures and radio plays on political and philosophical topics, always focusing on the question of how our idea of man and society is changing in the digital age, most recently the doppelganger experiment “Made to Measure” (madetomeasure.online) or the interactive performance Wo du mich findest, which Laokoon developed for the Münchner Kammerspiele in 2022.

Before the film screening, the two will present insights into their research on Eternal You in conversation with Christian Schiffer (BR). It will be about how Laokoon reveals the Trojan horses of our time, how they make the real of the digital tangible in their work.

Duration of talk: 45 minutes
Duration of movie: 87 minutes

Eternal You - Vom Ende der Endlichkeit was produced by beetz brothers film production and is a co-production with WDR (editor Christiane Hinz), NDR, BR, SWR, rbb, SRF | SRG SSR, VPRO and Docmine. In cooperation with ARTE, ORF, NRK, Motto Pictures (USA), Concordia Studio (USA) and Impact Partners (USA). The production was supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and Creative Europe MEDIA.

Nominated for Best Foreign Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.
The film will be shown as part of DOK.fest Munich.