Yesterday, I had to choose between taking the 332-mile round trip to Yorkshire’s worthiest celebration of avant-garde trauma, and nipping 8 miles down the road to the Metamorph AI Film Awards in a lively corner of Hackney. I thought for just over a micro-second, and opted for the latter.

Obviously, this meant missing out on the world premieres of “The Queer Geopolitics Of Soil Erosion” and “An Apology To The Indigenous Influencers of Outer Borneo”, as well as lively panel discussions about “Decolonising the Algorithm” and “Why Does No One Want To Watch Self-Righteous Feature Documentaries Anymore?”.

But I thought I would probably cope with that.

Possibly tougher to take were the lost opportunities to be snubbed by commissioning editors who had once been my runners, stonewalled in pitching sessions with public bodies with no intention of ever dispensing any funds, and run-over by a local tram.

FOMO can be a bitch. Unless, of course, you are delighted to miss out, and go somewhere better.

The Metamorph Film Awards included comedy, horror, music videos, ads, animations, and documentary-style narratives. Every film had wit, style, imagination, twists, and bold vision. None of them outstayed their welcome or tried to patronise us with a clunky “message”; two defining characteristics of standard Sheffield offerings.

But surely I must have missed out on all the networking offered by The Sheffield Documentary Festival?

Not really. Metamorph was a global gathering, and I was able to share free drinks with leading AI players from across the planet. Unlike the flatlining British TV industry’s stressy, status-obsessed snark-fests, this was actually fun and there was a spirit of mutual support.

It is an exciting time to be involved in filmmaking, if you’re using AI.