Yet, The Faces

The first feature documentary by Belgian director Miléna Trivier, whose creative and critical work on the relationship between cinema and artificial intelligence has been internationally acclaimed (CPH:DOX, HOT DOCS, Jihlava).

After the death of her mother, the director lost the ability to recognize faces—including those of her loved ones and even her own. The diagnosis was prosopagnosia, a disorder affecting 2–3% of the population. As she was losing this fundamental ability, facial recognition systems were becoming ubiquitous, creating a paradox that drives her investigation.

Through encounters with neuroscientists and artists, the film explores how recognition works—more closely tied to memory than to vision—and moves across a spectrum ranging from people with prosopagnosia to “super-recognizers,” individuals who never forget a face.

What begins as an intimate experience becomes an urgent political reflection on the rise of algorithmic surveillance, the use of biometric data, and the implications for privacy, identity, and freedom in a world obsessed with identification and shaped by the global expansion of facial recognition.

To convey this disorder of recognition and the impact of AI, Miléna Trivier employs an innovative visual language drawing on her experience as a colorist and on her collaboration with artist and programmer Caroline Sinders (Tate, MoMA). 2D animation and a cast of lookalikes further enrich this immersive cinematic experience.