The world remains in turmoil. The climate crisis looms like the Sword of Damocles over future generations. The war in Ukraine and the Middle East extends far beyond their respective regions. And the current election campaigns in Europe and the USA are not least about votes on immigration and reproductive issues. Welcome to our crisis, as a program on the latter is titled this year, could stand as a representative of the state of the world.

The segment Current Comments deals with this present, touches a raw nerve, calls the accustomed processes into question, and puts contemporary debates in a nutshell. What are the issues that concern us? And what concerns the artists and filmmakers who have submitted their work to this festival? These programs exhibit one of the strengths of the short format: its proximity to current issues — from the climate crisis and migration to human rights and dangerous scenarios for democracy. (dhe)