Cinema · Visual arts · Artificial intelligence

Main Jury

Meet the juries for the Full AI, Hybrid and Experimental competitions.

Javishth Chabria

Javishth Chabria is a tech entrepreneur, AI cinema pioneer, and a leading global voice on the future of storytelling and cinema. As the co-founder of Just Videos Studios (Mumbai/Atlanta), he is pioneering the transition to “simulation-first filmmaking” — a framework that bridges generative technology with traditional cinematic grammar to eliminate creative waste.

An official Ambassador for the World AI Film Festival (WAIFF), Javishth recently delivered a landmark keynote at Cannes, drawing from his experience building AI pipelines for both Hollywood and Bollywood workflows. His insights into transmedia storytelling and AI-native infrastructure have captivated audiences and studios worldwide. By championing a “human-in-the-loop” philosophy, Javishth delivers a practical, inspiring blueprint for the future of entertainment, making him a premier choice for international festivals looking to explore the next frontier of media.

Hardeep Gambhir

Hardeep Gambhir is the founder of LocalHost, a company building the institution that finds, funds and owns the work of internet-native storytellers. He produces AI film festivals across India, Japan and San Francisco, most recently the Tokyo AI Film Festival, which drew roughly 300 filmmakers, studios and investors, alongside hacker houses on three continents and a grant program backing filmmakers the industry cannot see.

Before LocalHost he founded The Residency, a community company advised by Sam Altman, growing it to $78K in monthly recurring revenue and selecting 70 residents from over 1,100 applicants. He is an Emergent Ventures grantee and has judged at HackMIT and Stanford TreeHacks.

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Marco Longo

An independent producer and filmmaker, Marco Longo graduated in Modern Literature from the University of Pavia and in Directing from the Civica Scuola di Cinema in Milan. In 2018, he founded Berenice Film, through which he produces creative documentaries by emerging filmmakers.

He has written about cinema for the online magazine Filmidee and the Cult section of DinamoPress, and collaborates with the Locarno Film Festival, the Centro Culturale San Fedele in Milan and the FuoriFormato festival in Genoa. He coordinates productions at CISA — Conservatorio Internazionale di Scienze Audiovisive in Locarno — and teaches at a number of film schools and academies.

Francesca Monti

Francesca Monti is Head of Education and a lecturer in Film History at CISA (Conservatorio di Scienze Audiovisive della Svizzera italiana) in Locarno. She has worked as a film critic, writing for specialist publications including duellanti, Segnocinema, Filmidee and Film Tv.

She has worked in programming and communications for institutions and events including the Locarno Film Festival, the Centro culturale San Fedele in Milan and the Bellaria Film Festival.

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Alessandro Bavari

Alessandro Bavari is an Italian-French visual artist, painter, photographer and art director, and a pioneer in the use of technology within creative research since 1993.

In 2011, he won the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica for Metachaos. His work later led to a collaboration with Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox, for whom he worked as a concept artist on Alien: Covenant (2017).

His artistic practice spans painting, photography, experimental animation and, since 2022, artificial intelligence, exploring the dialogue between traditional visual languages and emerging technologies. He also works in cinema, videogames and advertising, collaborating with international directors, agencies and brands.

Marco Poloni

Marco Poloni is an Italian and Swiss visual artist, filmmaker and photographer, based in Locarno, Paris and Berlin. His work has been presented internationally in numerous exhibitions, screenings, publications and conferences. In 2005, he represented Switzerland at the Venice Art Biennale.

Poloni was an assistant professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he taught photography, and an associate professor at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (écal), where he taught film, photography and installation. Since 2022, he has directed the Conservatorio internazionale di scienze audiovisive (CISA), Locarno’s film school.

Keith Zhang

Keith Zhang is a creative technologist and founder of Soulscape, an original-IP development company for AI-era entertainment. His work centres on developing distinctive characters and story worlds, building audiences, and unlocking their long-term commercial potential through original projects and selected creator collaborations.

A former Uber engineer, Keith was previously co-founder and COO of YouArt (Y Combinator, Spring 2026). Through Soulscape he has brought together AI creators, Academy Award winners and industry veterans with backgrounds at Disney, Pixar and Warner Bros. He led Soulscape 2026, whose 48-hour Cinema Lab brought together 200 creators from more than 15 countries to produce 40 short films, and has led enterprise programmes for Alibaba Cloud and BytePlus.

His work with Soulscape has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter and on KTVU FOX 2. Soulscape is currently developing original IPs to build enduring characters and worlds.

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