Two films about the relationship between humans and technology in the Y2K era will be screened on July 16th and 17th at Cinema Victoria in Timișoara as part of Ceau, Cinema!, within the Wildcards program for young curators, organized by F-SIDES in collaboration with some of the most important film festivals in Romania.
The two films, brought together under the title “It’s My First Time Being Human,” were curated by Ruxandra Tripa and Carla Pantilie.
At the beginning of the new millennium, once the apocalypse associated with the Y2K bug failed to materialize, science fiction shifted its focus toward a future already embedded in the technological present. Characterized by a fascination with networks, virtual identities, and biotechnologies, the Y2K imaginary reflects the fine line between enthusiasm and anxiety in a world on the threshold of a new digital era.
Created in this context, “Teknolust” (2002, directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson) and “The Slow Business of Going” (2000, directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari) offer two contrasting visions of the relationship between humans and technology, articulated through the figure of the cyborg.
In “Teknolust,” bio-geneticist Rosetta Stone (Tilda Swinton) downloads her own DNA into an experimental artificial intelligence program, creating a trio of cybernetic clones. The clones’ survival depends on injections containing the male Y chromosome, found only in sperm. Ruby, one of the clones, ventures into the real world and seduces men to ensure her survival.
The film was selected for the Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto film festivals. The screening will take place on Thursday, July 16th, at 8:30 PM at Cinema Victoria.
In “The Slow Business of Going,” Petra Going is a migrant cyborg and agent of the Global Nomad Project, an “International Experience Data Agency” that sends hundreds of “receivers,” like her, around the world to record random events and interactions. Periodically, they return to the agency’s headquarters to upload their memories into an archive that clients can later access, purchase, and virtually experience as prefabricated versions of tourist consciousness. The agency’s motto: “Nostalgia for Rent.”
The film is the debut feature of acclaimed Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari and was selected for the Rotterdam and Thessaloniki film festivals. The screening is scheduled for Friday, July 17th, at 8:00 PM at Cinema Victoria.
Both films will be introduced by curators Ruxandra Tripa and Carla Pantilie, who will also take part in audience discussions after the screenings.
Tickets are available on this website and on the Timisoara cinemas website.
The Wildcards Residency 2026, organized by the feminist platform F-SIDES, is a training program dedicated to film curation, designed as a laboratory of ideas where participants develop their own curatorial concepts in dialogue with industry professionals and international cinema networks. The program encourages emerging voices to explore film curation from a personal, critical, and reality-connected perspective, while providing the essential tools and resources needed to practice this profession. The curatorial projects developed during the residency will be presented at some of the country’s most important film festivals.
Funded and organized in partnership with the Municipality of Timișoara through the Project Center.
Cultural project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN). The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or for the way its results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.
Partners: Identity.Education, Ceau, Cinema!, UPT Campus Creativ, Scena9, Matca, the Romanian Association of Women in Cinema.
Ceau, Cinema! is a festival dedicated to European cinema, organized by the Pelicula Cultural Association.
Funded by the Municipality of Timișoara through the Center for Projects.