Locarno's own director said it today, opening night.
The 79th Locarno Film Festival opened today. Its industry program, Locarno Pro, is spending this entire week on one theme: how AI and algorithms are already shaping what gets financed, distributed, and seen. Here’s what that actually means,
The Quote
Artistic director Giona Nazzaro, in an interview published today: “It’s a kind of dream to regain cinema as a freedom that can’t be predicted through algorithms or consumer habits.”
What’s Actually On The Schedule
Locarno Pro’s panels this week aren’t about whether AI can generate a shot. They’re about whether a platform’s data (or an AI’s prediction of what will perform) decides which films get funded and released at all.
A Different Layer Of Fear
Not “will AI take my job on set.” It’s “will an algorithm decide if my project exists at all, before a single frame gets shot”, a decision made above the work, not in it.
My Own Resume Goes Through One Too
I’ve been applying for work myself lately. Before a human at a station or production company sees that resume, it goes through a screening algorithm first. I’ve caught myself writing for software, not a person.
My Honest Take
A festival director publicly rejecting algorithmic curation is a real, on-record admission this is already shaping decisions, it doesn’t undo the financing reality underneath it.
Who Actually Decides?
The lawsuits get headlines. Quiet admissions like this tell you more.