24H Europe: The Next Generation (2019)

It does not look good for Europe. The great visionary project of the post-war era is on the brink of a precipice. The dream of open borders, a single market, a European government, a continent united in peace seems a distant memory. Instead, Brussels has become a synonym for the governance of bureaucracy, out of touch with the people and without democratic control. Some see the Euro as a bottomless pit, others as a self-service counter. Brexit, the state of affairs in the Ukraine,and the border wall might be the final nail in the coffin. Really, though? Europe's future is below the age of 30. Adolescents and young adults who live in absurd times. The young generation used to present the majority of the population and thus had the power to transform society. Now they are the minority. They are expected to shape the future yet they can be outvoted any time by their elders. The market economy upgrades its operating system, information is the new gold standard and data handling is the new heavy industry. But somehow the course is still set on the basis of the nation state, the coal and steel industry and a cloudy desire for a lost past, which maybe never existed. Polls show that the majority of young people in Britain voted to remain in the EU. The picture is similar in other European countries: old people want to turn back, young people want to move ahead. 24h Europe: We Are the Future is a 24-hour expedition into the European continent and to the people who are its future. The programme follows 60 protagonists from 25 nations, between the age of 15 and 30. They lead us into their world, share their everyday lives, their dreams and realities. University graduates turn into business consultants, while banlieue dwellers lag behind. Locals, migrants, strangers, lost souls. Saving lives at sea, fighting for their homeland. Volunteers in hospitals, searchers in the provinces, hipsters assessing their global possibilities.