ETERNAL YOU

Synopsis

The film ETERNAL YOU goes to the heart of a technological revolution and perhaps one of the most gruesome business ideas of the 21st century. Building on the suffering, hopes and pain of the dying and their bereaved, financially strong start-ups from around the world are scenting the next big business: digital revenants of the deceased. 

These are created by artificial intelligence and huge amounts of personal user data and are supposed to be able to interact with the bereaved in their place beyond the death of a person. What consequences does the myth of the end of finiteness have for individuals and society? 

At the center of the film are captivating stories of people who try to immortalize themselves and others - sometimes deeply sad, sometimes tragicomic, sometimes disturbing and often surprisingly funny. Stories of sufferers who, out of understandable desperation, long for the new enticing technical possibilities.

What connects the stories are the looming social, ethical, legal and moral questions that are repeatedly raised via different viewpoints of the protagonists and their environment. This core narrative of the film is mirrored by the story of the tech pioneers from Silicon Valley. The race for the digital beyond has long since begun. In addition to a multitude of start-ups, one of the big tech giants has now entered the race. In January 2021, it was announced that Microsoft had received a patent for software that would make humans immortal in the form of a bot. Although many of the technologies already on offer are not yet fully developed, prototypes are being tested on thousands of test subjects and first-time customers.