Uncanny Me

Lale is a hard-working photo model. She spends all her time creating a robotic form of perfection, and on her way between photo sessions and hotel rooms, she wonders if there is still any space left for the real Lale. But now she’s discovered a way to get more freedom, she explains to her mother. She can get her body scanned to create a digital clone that can also become a model, in the virtual world. But what if this avatar starts living a life of its own? Before leaping into the abyss, she decides to find out more about the moral and other implications. The tension between reality and illusion keeps returning at various levels throughout this explorative merging of documentary and science fiction: in the form of the film itself, with its amalgamation of realism, video diary, fashion photography and sleek futurism; and in the references to identity in our contemporary, technological times. Is reality still important? The digital masks and gorgeous images of nature evoke a mysterious, dreamlike quality. Lale stands on the threshold of the metaverse. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)