Antenna 2026: Marc Isaacs on Synthetic Sincerity

January 29, 2026

Synthetic Sincerity plays at Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2026 in Sydney. Addy Fong speaks to director Marc Isaacs:

Hi Marc, Could you start by telling me how the connection between yourself and the Synthetic Sincerity Lab began?

The writer I work with, Adam Ganz, knew the professor working with AI and so this initially how the relationship started. The Synthetic Sincerity Lab is an invention created for the film and so is the University of Southern England – which doesn’t actually exist. The Ai researchers seen n the film – Dawn and Pinaki both work with AI but Lynn is a former filmmaking student of mine and she is playing a role in our film which throughout combines documentary elements with fictitious ones.

In the film you licence your films to the lab so that their machines can learn sincerity, they can learn human emotions for the progress of technology, was there ever a feeling of uncomfortability for yourself as a filmmaker, as an artist during this process as they break down all the footage that you’ve filmed in such meticulous detail?

Given that the licensing of my films and their critique/analysis by the lab is part of the fiction and all the dialogue is written and then improvised, the feelings of uncomfortableness – if they are present – are the film’s creation and so intentional.

Does this uncomfortability and perhaps vulnerability feel the same with films you’ve made that have been criticised/reviewed by film critics and reviewers? Is this just something filmmakers just have to get used to?

Film criticism is something that can’t be controlled by the filmmaker of course and so I have to try to let go of any sense of offence or discomfort. Of course, I agree with favorable criticism and disagree when it isn’t so. The only thing that really annoys me is when critics don’t get the film and so base a critique on a complete misunderstanding – but sometimes this can be amusing too.

The separation between what makes us human and robots is technology, the ability for humans to show emotion and connect – feelings, empathy, sympathy is what separates us from AI. However, our human desire to connect with anyone or anything has meant that AI seems to be a bandaid solution for combating feelings of loneliness in society. What are your thoughts on this?

I agree with you. AI will never solve the longing for human connection – not until at least future generations neurological make up has changed so much that they become different humans from us. I am glad I won’t be around to experience this shift if it occurs. I am worried about this loss of human spontaneity to be honest.

In the film you address the camera and speak to an AI character, portrayed by Ilinca Manolache, is perhaps a fictional portrayal of humans and robots interacting just like how we interact with AI these days. Sometimes it can almost feel unnatural and uncomfortable. How was it filming the scene and being on camera – as a filmmaker were you comfortable with the portrayal of yourself onscreen or did the film feel almost performative when you needed to act?

In so many ways the film is performative. What you see of me is a performance based upon my and Adam’s conception of how a filmmaker character might be in this story. So we thought long and hard about why a filmmaker might be interested in exploring AI and how the institutional context affects him. Also of course, the desire and necessity of the filmmaker to be independent minded and intolerant of interference which is something that is permeating filmmaking more and more as it becomes less independent and more corporate.

During the filming process for this documentary what was something you learnt that surprised you?

I think there are a couple of things really. One was Dawn and her pinball machines and how we managed to connect that to the themes in the film and then also how Lynn’s story related to Beirut – was also a surprising and satisfying unexpected turn. I also love the way SonG talks about his wife as a goddess and how the Provost character plays his role so well with humor.

A quick fun one to end – what are your top 5 science fiction films?

Oh that’s tricky. It’s not a genre I usually watch so much of but these stand out on first thoughts:

La Jetee – Chris marker

2001: A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick

Plan 9 from Outer Space – Ed Wood

Ikarie XB-1 – Jindrich Polak

Stalker – Andrei Tarkovsky

Synthetic Sincerity plays on Sun 8 Feb at 5:30pm at Dendy Newtown and Sun 15 Feb at 4:30pm at Dendy Newtown.

For tickets and information, go here: https://antennafestival.org/films/synthetic-sincerity/

Interview by Addy Fong.