The films of the 17th edition of exground youth days are just as diverse as the subjects that preoccupy young individuals. The opening film LOVECUT treats the big questions on teenagers’ minds: first love, relationships and sexuality. Nora from our school screening of KOKON also falls madly in love and attempts to go her own way as a woman – beyond all conventional roles and body images common in social media. DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE also revolves around the big emotions that change everything, as the bond between two brothers is put to the test by a girlfriend. The two metal fans in THE NIGHT OF THE BEAST have totally different problems: their tickets to cult band “Iron Maiden’s” first ever concert in Bogota get stolen. Alas, the youth days also have space for more serious topics: in NEVIA, the eponymous heroine searches for a way out of her life of precarity in Naples, while Ola from I NEVER CRY, all alone in Dublin, has to take care of arranging for her father’s body to be transported back to Poland – and Rebekka from ALBTRÄUMER attempts to process her brother’s suicide.