German director Alireza Golafshan has completed production on 'Zoma', a courtroom thriller placing artificial intelligence on the witness stand. Filmed near Munich, the project stars Leonie Benesch as Elli Schreiber, an attorney challenging tech giant NuvoMind. The conflict centers on Zoma, an AI therapy application allegedly connected to a patient's death.

For engineering teams, the narrative hits close to home. Schreiber isn't just fighting corporate lawyers; she is up against an algorithm designed to model human psychology better than clinicians themselves. The film explores liability when autonomous systems make life-or-death recommendations. Barbara Sukowa co-stars as the grieving mother demanding answers from the black box.

'Zoma' marks the debut feature for Story Garden, established in 2024 by Golafshan, Justyna Muesch, and Sofie Scherz. Backing comes from Studiocanal, Bayerischer Rundfunk, and German federal film funds. Studiocanal plans a German theatrical release for January 28, 2027, while managing global sales.

The screenplay, penned by Golafshan and Moritz Binder, aims to capture the current technological zeitgeist. Binder previously earned an Oscar nomination for 'September 5'. Studiocanal Co-CEOs Hooman Afshari and Lutz Rippe noted the script raises questions society can no longer postpone. As AI integration deepens across healthcare and legal sectors, 'Zoma' arrives as a cultural mirror for the industry. The cast includes Tom Schilling and Devid Striesow, supporting a story where code meets conscience. This production follows Golafshan's award-winning comedy work, shifting tone to address the ethical weight of modern machine learning deployments. It signals a growing interest in how cinema interprets the risks of opaque model architectures.

Source: Deadline