AI Academy with the Locarno Film Festival
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Program Startup Camp (Sustainable AI)
Join the next Startup Camp in San Francisco, powered by Innosuisse and managed by Swissnex.
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Program Future Museum Lab
A fellowship program connecting Swiss museum professionals with Bay Area innovation to strengthen visitor engagement and turn ideas into institutional practice.
Info & tickets
April 6–10, 2026
Created and curated jointly by Swissnex in San Francisco and the Locarno Film Festival, the AI & Film Academy will bring together a small group to exchange perspectives on AI and cinema, with space for reflection, critique, hands-on experimentation, and shared learning.
The <em>AI & Film Academy</em> is a focused program for five invited participants drawn from Locarno Film Festival’s global talent ecosystem. It is designed for filmmakers and creative technologists who want to understand how AI is reshaping cinematic language, workflows, and the conditions of authorship. It also offers a space to define what they want to protect, preserve, and push forward in their own work.
Founded in 1946, and one of the oldest film festivals in Europe, Locarno brings deep expertise in programming, convening, and talent development at international scale, with decades of experience curating boundary-pushing cinema and supporting emerging voices through its academy and professional programs.
Swissnex has direct access to the Bay Area’s AI and creative technology ecosystem, and a track record of building programs that connect experimentation with real world networks.
Rather than a pure production bootcamp, the Academy is built around structured conversation, peer exchange, and curated input from industry and research. Each participant will arrive with a clear lens, a project thread, or a working question, and will leave with sharper language, stronger frameworks, and a more grounded view of the tools, the tradeoffs, and the ethics.
Program Mission
The mission of the AI + Film Academy is to strengthen long term capacity for thoughtful AI use in cinema. The program supports artists and filmmakers in building shared literacy, articulating responsible positions, and connecting to international peers who can challenge, refine, and expand their thinking.
Format
Participants meet for an intense week of moderated sessions and curated encounters, designed to support depth of discussion,exchanges with shared questions, honest critique, concrete examples, and room to connect ideas back to practice.
Program Outcomes
By the end of the Academy, participants will have:
- Created a shared set of questions and working principles for responsible AI use in cinema
- Developed a set of reference cases, methods, and workflows that can be translated back into their own practice and into the Swiss film ecosystem
- Formed a new network of peers and advisors across film and technology, designed for continued exchange beyond the week
- A series of contributions, conversations, case studies, and critical reflections, to be presented in different contexts at Locarno 2026, including public facing discussions and focused exchanges within the Locarno Academy
- Visibility for their artistic work within the broader framework of the Locarno Film Festival program
Key Dates
- Academy in San Francisco, April 6–10, 2026
- Public event on April 7 at Swissnex in San Francisco (details coming soon)
- Follow up moments and public facing elements connected to Locarno Film Festival 2026, August 2026
Cohort
A curated group of guests from film, creative technology, and research will join the cohort. Full lineup to be announced.
