PalaCinema, Locarno
FORMA APERTA
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HYBRID LIVE PRODUCTION SET
FILM PRODUCTION / RESEARCH / PUBLIC OPENING
During our hybrid production period at PalaCinema Locarno (28.09–11.10), we concentrated on a human-centred approach to generative filmmaking: video-to-video workflows, filming and working with actors, visual transposition, live music composition, open-door feedback folded back into the process, and ongoing reflection on the conceptual and ethical implications of the work.
Scientists, academics, filmmakers, students and colleagues entered the space at different moments, contributing to a process that remained deliberately open.
Our experience so far suggests a different picture from the prevailing narrative around AI as a technology destined to replace and supersede much of the work within film and the creative industries. As time is compressed into digital atoms and processes into increasingly automated intervals, something else becomes visible. As the machine absorbs certain functions, each creative discipline is called to renew itself: to return to what is essential within its practice, and to understand more clearly what only human presence and relationship can bring.
Acting, set and stage design, photography, costume, composition, these practices will not simply disappear. They will adapt, expand and transform.
We have now entered Phase 2 of FORMA APERTA. This second stage expands the filming and initial generation phase of Daniel JeanRichard into a temporary space for research, exchange and shared work.
Cue in the discussion
The value shifts from representation toward relation: what relationships produced the material, what was experienced together, what was preserved, what was transformed?
01 / CASE STUDY
Ethical and sustainability research
During the two weeks of production, a research process will be developed around the practical use and relationship to artificial intelligence tools within the filmmaking process.
Daniel JeanRichard will serve as a case study for building a transparent and shareable framework, describing the tools used and the creative and production choices.
Models and tools used
Generation attempts
Material produced and material used
Electricity consumption and, where measurable, water consumption
02 / VISIBLE PROCESS
Documentation
The project will be accompanied by audiovisual documentation dedicated to the creative process, the public activities and the professional gatherings.
The documentation will preserve a record of the work carried out and make the themes of the production accessible to a wider audience, with particular attention to cinema, artificial intelligence, watchmaking and research on time.
Content for digital channels, interviews, behind-the-scenes material and live-streaming moments connected to the sector gatherings, the feedback sessions and the concluding Opening are planned.
03 / TRANSMISSION
Shared knowledge
FORMA APERTA makes emerging audiovisual production practices accessible through direct observation, dialogue and participation.
Professionals, students and independent practitioners can engage with a real production process, supporting professional development and a critical understanding of the transformations currently taking place.
The first research findings will be presented during the Opening on 9 October and subsequently organised into a dedicated document.
Impact & Perspective
FORMA APERTA, in collaboration with PalaCinema Locarno, creates opportunities for exchange between filmmakers, artists, researchers, institutions, schools and cultural organisations.
By bringing these different actors together around a concrete film production, the project strengthens existing professional networks and encourages new regional and national collaborations.
The project is conceived as a prototype for a future permanent platform for production, research and transmission based in Locarno.
FORMA APERTA
@Locarno Film Festival
Where does the creative process live?
As automation and artificial intelligence changes the workflows of cinema, they also require a change of perspective. The question is no longer only what these technologies can produce, but where the creative process now lives, how decisions are made, and how authorship, knowledge and responsibility are distributed throughout the workflow. How are roles within a team changing? What new skills are emerging?
Presented at the Sala Comunale Municipio di Locarno, this event explored FORMA APERTA: an open working environment in which filmmaking, research and public exchange develop alongside one another. Traditional and AI-assisted filmmaking come together within a hybrid production process, opening the film set to observation, experimentation, documentation and dialogue.
Through FORMA APERTA the Generative Center, in collaboration with PalaCinema Locarno, proposes a first step towards a permanent laboratory in Locarno, creating the conditions for sustained research, professional exchange and forms of cinema that remain connected to artists, institutions, students and the territory.
FORMA APERTA will take place from 28 September to 11 October 2026 at PalaCinema Locarno, following the Generative Center’s film production for The Industry of Time: Daniel JeanRichard.
With Felix Bachmann, Kevin Merz, Nefeli Polymerou
Moderated by Stefano Knuchel
