AI, Virtual, Digital Worlds in Locarno Film Festival Focus [Video]

Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is a hot-button topic these days — in Hollywood and beyond. It may not come as a surprise then that the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday, will feature AI- and digital technology-themed movies in various parts of its lineup.

Even in unveiling the program for Locarno77 last month, Giona A. Nazzaro, the Swiss festival’s artistic director, mentioned “the whole discussion around artificial intelligence” as one of the themes featured across the fest. “We didn’t seek out these themes. We didn’t say ‘okay, we are going to have a festival focusing on certain themes’,” he emphasized though. Instead, after finishing the selection for Locarno 2024, his team noticed overarching and underlying subjects. “The festival is a catalyst for major dialogue, intensive exchanges,” Nazzaro concluded.

What might surprise festivalgoers is how different the filmmakers’ approaches to digital worlds and AI are. They range from a …