Uncanny Me

Filmstill Uncanny Me

Uncanny Me

Uncanny Me
Katharina Pethke
German Competition 2022
Documentary Film
Germany
2022
45 minutes
German,
English
subtitles: 
German, English

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Katharina Pethke
Christoph Rohrscheidt
Sven Michael Otto
ZDF / 3sat
ZDF / 3sat
Christoph Rohrscheidt
Daniela Kinateder
Michael Thäle
Kuan-Chen Chen
Christian Riegel
Vinzent Britz
Katharina Pethke

Do computer-generated figures now look as “real” as “genuine” humans? For 26-year-old Lale, this question is not only exciting in theory, but in practice. She works as a model but would rather spare herself exhausting shoots by getting an avatar. But when she has taken the first steps towards “doubling” herself, she has second thoughts. What does it mean, in actual, legal and moral terms, to bring a virtual duplicate of oneself into the world?

Katharina Pethke accompanies her young protagonist on this process. The intellectual game turns into a test on the living subject, a weighing of possibilities and fears. What does it mean for our perception of the world (and for documentary film, too, of course) that the promise of reality of visual media has long since become a gradual one? In the age of omnipresent self-dramatization, deepfakes and extended reality, we are embarking on a journey to our joint (media) future. It’s no coincidence that it ends at a place that already inspired Plato’s ideas on reality and its shadows.
Luc-Carolin Ziemann
Nominated for VER.DI Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, Young Eyes Film Award
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Tech Futures
Coming of Age
Gender Norms