Oh, what a heartwarming, cup-filling and optimistic documentary experience! I thought I knew what to expect from it, a bit of Spellbound, a bit of This is Going to be Big, all set amongst the world of adolescent super nerds.

It’s an Australian production, directed by Kristina Kraskov, but it is looking at an international competition based on the Microsoft Office suite. Would you believe that every year there is a world championships for Word, PowerPoint and Excel? There are strict requirements around it – you have to have won your national competition, you have to be aged between 13 and 22, and you can only enter it once.

Kraskov gives us a good introduction, both to the characters we are following and to the history of electronic spreadsheets and the importance of Excel in everyday lives and in any business or organisation where data is processed. We meet a contestant from just about each continent, Mason from the United States, Braydon from Australia, De La Paix from Cameroon, Carmina from Guatemala, Alkmini from Greece, and Nam from Vietnam.

What makes each of them so interesting is their love of mathematics and order and technology, as well as a real dedication to trying to be the best at something. We hear from their teachers and family members and see them in their homes, which of course are all very different from each other. De La Paix does not have access to his own computer and you can’t help but be impressed by the determination he must have to succeed.

You might be wondering what an Excel championship entails. It is a 100 minute test with three parts; one is around knowledge of Excel, one is about the use of Excel as an application, and the last is a more creative one where the data sets have to be presented in ways that are attractive and communicate information.

It is taken very seriously by our contestants and some like Mason are very young. When we get to the competition day and the actual test, it is incredibly tense and stressful. There are some mistakes made by the contestants we are following and it is heart wrenching to see their disappointment in themselves. When we get to the awards ceremony, it is gripping and there were gasps and groans and applause from the audience.

I was surprised how teary I felt at several moments in the film, particularly when we really see the emotion from these amazing young contestants. There was a lot of praise for them despite whether they win or lose, emphasising what success looks like and the importance of giving something a go. There is a quiet celebration of the teachers and the parents who supported them, something that was emphasised by the filmmakers in the Q&A afterwards.

There were some beautiful little gems in the Q&A, like the first edit being dominated by Mason, who is adorably hilarious. They all chose their favourite Mason moments and then cut the rest out so that it would be a more balanced story. Carmina is a huge One Direction and Niall Horan fan and the film makers contacted him to see if he would join them at MIFF but understandably got no response.

Ultimately, this lovely documentary just made me feel really hopeful and happy and proud of young people.