One world faces the challenges of the modern world

The One World festival often focuses on conflicts and problems that take us to the other side of the globe. However, a significant part of its programme can easily be related to our own immediate experience. In Action Item, Slovak director Paula Ďurinová explores the phenomenon of overwork, where exhaustion becomes the norm and performance a duty. Burnout becomes part of everyday functioning for people who live under constant pressure and expectations of continuous work availability. Inevitable failures are perceived as personal shortcomings rather than symptoms of a creeping civilizational illness. Through vividly captured recordings of group therapy sessions, the film reveals burnout as a topic whose taboo needs to be broken.

Many people hope that the rise of so-called artificial intelligence will put an end to this and many other problems. French filmmaker Henri Poulain, however, views this anticipated civilizational shift with a smaller dose of optimism in his film In the Belly of AI. This unsettling yet ironic dive into the inner workings of an omnipresent technology reveals, through testimonies from experts as well as some of the first victims of AI, the foundations on which today’s large language models are built. The film explores a wide range of threats from disruptions to human socialization to the harmful environmental impact of operating AI and attempts to find a sustainable future.

Someone who refuses to worry about any of this is Norwegian filmmaker Gunnar Hall Jensen, one of the main guests of this year’s One World festival, who is also the subject of a dedicated retrospective. On Monday, one of his early works, Gunnar goes comfortable, will be screened. It is one of several films in which Hall Jensen turns the camera on himself and records his eccentric everyday life in a distinctive diary-like style. Gunnar loves motorcycles and women and regularly succumbs to addictive substances. At the same time, he struggles with a strong sense of self-loathing. When he is diagnosed with diabetes, he sets out to India in search of himself. It may sound crazy, but his escapades reflect the problems of modern life with unusual accuracy.