At the 79th edition, Locarno's artistic director frames his entire program as a refusal of algorithmic culture.

The 79th Locarno Film Festival opened on August 5 at the Piazza Grande to 8,000 spectators, but the most pointed statement of the night wasn't on screen. Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro greeted the crowd with a declaration: "Welcome to Locarno, where your algorithm does not work anymore."

It is a deliberate position. Nazzaro, who ran Venice Critics' Week from 2016 to 2020, has described the festival's goal as liberating "spectators from preconceived viewing choices." In an era when viewing habits are shaped by recommendation engines optimized for engagement, Locarno insists on a different logic: human curation and what Nazzaro calls "curated diversity." The program does not ask what you watched last. It asks what cinema can be.

The 79th edition runs through August 15 and includes 233 films from 69 countries, 103 of them world premieres. Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh opened the Piazza Grande with their new film The Green Eyes. On the honors side, Isabella Rossellini receives the Excellence Award. Other honorees include Darren Aronofsky, James Gray, Asia Argento, Rick Baker, Zoe Saldaña, and Virginie Efira.

Nazzaro has stated he wants cinematic forms to coexist "with the same rights and dignity in the same public space," rejecting the distinction between populist and arthouse programming. The position is not new for a festival of Locarno's standing. What is new is the urgency of saying it out loud.