‘About a Hero,’ AI-Generated Docu-Mystery Featuring Synthetic Werner Herzog, Debuts Trailer — Watch

Exclusive: Director Piotr Winiewicz and the AI that was trained on Herzog’s body of work, with his permission, will do Q&As when the film screens.

Boy, that gravely, transfixing, German-lilted voice sounds familiar.

In the official trailer for “About a Hero,” Werner Herzog, or rather, an artificial version of the legendary auteur, intones about a “great mystery” that must be solved. The project is the debut feature of Piotr Winiewicz, a Polish artist, and it has made headlines for its unusual origins. It was created from a story generated by KASPAR, an AI trained — with Herzog’s permission — on the director’s body of work. “About a Hero” was produced by Pressman Film. Utopia’s Circle Collective acquired North American rights and will release the film theatrically this fall.

Adapted by Winiewicz and screenwriter Anna Juul from material generated by KASPAR, the film begins after a factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances and a synthetic Herzog travels to a sleepy European town to investigate. “People always look for a reason, because someone’s death is a great mystery,” Herzog intones in the moody trailer. “A great enigma.”

The film blends staged narrative with real-world interviews, while involving artists, philosophers and scientists in what the filmmakers describe as a “provocative conversation about authorship, originality, consent and the limits of machine-made meaning.” The trailer has a dreamy quality — a man undresses, a woman lets out a primal scream in a parked car, and there are glimpses of a blood-drenched crime scene.

In a recent interview with IndieWire at the Venice Film Festival, Herzog explained his involvement in the project and shared his thoughts on AI. “I welcome AI to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it’s ad nauseam. When it’s ad nauseam, please, please, please let AI step in and do the job.”

In addition to the synthetic Herzog, the film features Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”), Stephen Fry (“Gosford Park”), and Imme Beccard (“Am Ende der Worte”), and is produced by Sam Pressman and Max Loeb for Pressman Film, Tambo Film, Cineteam Hannover, Yo Productions, Engima, and Utopia.

Pressman Film and Utopia will host screenings of “About A Hero” across North America, featuring Q&As with the KASPAR AI trained for the film. The first screening will take place in Toronto on Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. at the Paradise Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival, with future screenings planned in New York City and Los Angeles.

On Sept. 30, “About a Hero” will celebrate its New York premiere at Crown Hill Theatre in Brooklyn. The screening will be followed by a Q&A featuring Winiewicz and KASPAR. Tickets are currently available.

“About A Hero” opened the 2024 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam with additional festival appearances at CPH:DOX, Stiges Film Festival, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Göteborg Film Festival. The film was released by Arte across Europe.

Pressman Film premiered Takashi Miike’s “Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo” at this year’s TIFF, and Jelena Maksimović’s “Until the Day Ends” in competition at the Venice International Film Festival in the Orizzonti strand. Current projects include Luca Guadagnino’s forthcoming adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho” and Josephine Decker’s 2026 Sundance premiere “Chasing Summer,” starring Iliza Shlesinger, Lola Tung, and Megan Mullally.

Watch the official “About a Hero” trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.