The Genre and Theme

Umlaut is a sci-fi noir thriller, which uses Sophie’s interrogation by Anka as a framing device to encapsulate Matrix-style reality-shattering action and suspense, interspersed with Ex-Machina-inspired tense discussions on the nature of consciousness and free will. Taking place in few locations, Umlaut will have a central set-piece – the car accident that kills Doron – which will be seen through different angles throughout the film as the story slowly reveals who was responsible for his death.

Umlaut’s main theme is all around us. In the recent announcement of Facebook’s morphing into Meta (a VR environment not at all different than what we see in the film). In the social media fueled political polarization seen all around the world, but even more in the US and Brazil. In the large language models – GPTChat and the alike – arms race between Google and Microsoft.

The political implications of incoming AI revolution that will take over the world in the next few decades are in everyone’s mind, and our film taps directly into today’s Zeitgeist to present a story that will be both a cautionary tale and a push to broaden the limits of human creativity.