The Spanish documentary, Cyborg Generation introduces the theme of “transhumanism” as artists have sensors surgically inserted into their bodies so that they can change the way they experience the world. Another film in the Community Boundaries category is the American documentary Sex Robot Madness. This documentary also deals with the use of artificial body parts…but used for a slightly different purpose. The filmmakers look at the very specific use of prosthetic bodies in combination with AI and what the allure of these erotic machines might mean for the future of intimacy and high-quality relationships.

Next up is the Male Beings category – a category that delves into the unique difficulties of being a man in today’s world. The British film Silent Men is an intimate confession by a man who finds himself unable to tell his parents that he loves them. He therefore embarks on a journey of self-discovery to learn how to open up emotionally. A complementary category to Male Beings is that of The Female Gaze, which contains films that feature strong female leads facing the everyday difficulties of today’s world – be it navigating life during wartime or dealing head on with the effects of toxic masculinity. An example of a film in this section is Zurawski v Texas. This American documentary presents the tragic case of a woman who was forced to give birth to a child who had absolutely no chance of survival simply because it was illegal to have an abortion in her state. As a result of the medical procedures she had to undergo, she is now unable to have any more children. For this reason, she is taking her case to court and trying to instigate a legislative change that will provide essential health care to all women and save them from the same traumatic fate she had.

Finally, young people entering adulthood might find solace in the film Question of the Future -- part of The Slovak Journey category. In this film, Slovak teenagers seriously consider the possibility emigrating as they find themselves absolutely disgusted by their country’s politics. Why stay in a nation, they wonder, where they have no future and where bigoty runs rampant? This documentary poses the difficult question, “where are you heading, Slovakia?”