The Taming of soft machines (Finland) by Christian Luoma

A machine made to need. A body trained to give. A visual hymn to submission, desire, and synthetic devotion.Inspired by the vampire cyborg folklore and the architecture of programmed love. Where pleasure is protocol, obedience is worship and the line between wanting and being wanted is blurred or never existed.

“I don’t know who programmed the wanting.”

Running time: 00:03:18

Glorious Summer (Poland) by Helena Ganjalyan, Bartosz Szpak

In a serene, sun-drenched world, three young girls spend their days in carefree play, mindfulness exercises, and idle contentment. Their every need is meticulously cared for by an all-encompassing, nurturing system that keeps their lives perfectly stable and predictable. For years, they've lived in this blissful, responsibility-free bubble, where summer never ends. But cracks soon begin to appear in this idyllic picture. Lip-reading, because some things can't be said out loud. Secretly practicing how to die, which is supposed to be the ticket to "another place." Listening for explosions rumbling in the distance. Beneath the smiles and cheerful surface, anger and resentment that have been suppressed for years start to surface. The wellness-focused daily routine begins to feel more like a form of enslavement. Everything is heading toward inevitable catastrophe. Will the girls, raised in a state of perpetual immaturity, be able to cross the boundaries imposed on them by the system?

Running time: 01:29:14