FORMA APERTA — Where does the creative process live?

The talk

Automation and distributed production have pulled filmmaking apart: the work now happens across tools, teams and machines that rarely share a room. FORMA APERTA opens with the question that follows from that.

With the arrival of automation and distributed production, where does the making of a film happen today?

One hour, four voices, and the public launch of the format. The team presents the project, the film it is built around, and the two weeks of open production that follow at the PalaCinema in Locarno.

On stage

Felix Bachmann
Kevin Merz
Manuela Bachmann — Generative Center · FORMA APERTA production
Simona Gamba — Living Lab Lugano

The project

FORMA APERTA is developed by Generative Center with PalaCinema Locarno. From 28 September to 11 October 2026 it turns the shoot and the early generative phase of the film Daniel JeanRichard into a temporary space for research, encounter and exchange between audiovisual professionals, researchers, students and the public.

At its centre is the Live Production Workflow — the main production phase of Daniel JeanRichard, the first film in the series The Industry of Time, on the history and the transformations of Swiss watchmaking. The film combines historical research, performance, traditional audiovisual craft and generative tools.

Running alongside is a strand of research on the concrete use of AI in filmmaking: the models and tools employed, the attempts at generation, what was produced against what was actually used, and the electricity and water it cost. The first findings are presented on 9 October.

← Back to Program The fortnight in Locarno

2 Oct · 17:00–18:00 · Cinema Lux, Massagno Where does the creative process live? Open talk and public launch of FORMA APERTA, inside the Merge Film Festival.
6 Oct · 14:30–16:00 · PalaCinema Locarno Open Studio / Feedback Session A visit to the production floor: the work in progress, observed, and a conversation with the creative team.
8 Oct · 18:00–19:30 · PalaCinema Locarno Open Studio / Feedback Session A second open session for professionals, students and the public, inside a production still in motion.
9 Oct · 15:00–17:00 · PalaCinema Locarno Cinema Sector Gathering A round table on AI-assisted film workflows and on the creative, ethical, ecological, legal and professional questions the project has raised.
9 Oct · 17:30–20:00 · PalaCinema Locarno Opening: “Intelligence in Time” A public evening across cinema, AI research, the history of watchmaking and the philosophy of time, with material from the film and the first results of the research.

FORMA APERTA is coordinated by Xocolat and creatively developed by Generative Center, in collaboration with PalaCinema Locarno.