Icarus Films: Synthetic Sincerity

Synthetic Sincerity

Directed by Marc Isaacs

70 minutes / Color
Closed Captioned
Release: 2026
Copyright: 2025

Cultural Anthropology

Documentary

Experimental

COMING SOON

The Synthetic Sincerity Lab based at the University of Southern England is trying to create authentic AI characters as part of a new research project. The head of the lab, Professor Song, licences the films of Marc Isaacs to better understand what his AI characters are lacking and, in turn, agrees the filmmaker can document their working process.

Blending documentary with fiction, SYNTHETIC SINCERITY uses humor and innovative narrative techniques to form a reflection on what is happening to the human face in the era of AI and what this might mean for the future of cinema.

The film’s cast includes: an AI character made in collaboration with Illinca Manolache (Don’t Expect Too Much From the End of the World, dir. Radu Jude, 2023); Lynn, a rebellious and charismatic AI researcher from Beirut and Ablikim, a Uighur chef quietly, but painfully dealing with his exile in London.

When the filmmaker goes rogue and starts filming the private lives of the lab researchers - and Lynn and her colleagues have transformed Ablikim into an AI able to tell the world about what he’s gone through - the university provost and his AI assistant decide to enact revenge.

“Warm, funny and generous... A true original from one of Britain's most inquisitive and adventurous directors.” —The Guardian

“Marc Isaac's Synthetic Sincerity is a playful but pointed look at the brave new world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that we are hurtling towards.” —POV Magazine

“Synthetic Sincerity radiates an uncommon creative freedom. Isaacs demonstrates that independence can be a powerful ally when exploring ideas without the constraints of rigid structures. His film moves forward naturally, without haste to resolve the questions it raises. In the end, what remains is an invitation to look toward the future with curiosity.” —Caligari Magazine