Video Essays Desktop Films Future of Cinema About
Research & Initiatives

Future of Cinema

Leading research and public initiatives exploring emerging forms of audiovisual culture, from video essay methodology to AI and environmental studies.

Position
Locarno Film Festival Professor
Institution
Università della Svizzera italiana
Since
2022

Research Initiatives

As the Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema and the Audiovisual Arts, I lead teaching, research, and public initiatives that explore emerging forms of audiovisual culture.

SNSF Research Project

The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies — investigating how videographic practices generate new modes of knowledge, critique, and artistic expression.

Future of Cinema Conference

Annual conference series at Locarno Film Festival examining how AI and algorithmic media reshape documentary and nonfiction forms.

REAL Academy

Partnership program bringing together emerging filmmakers and scholars to explore the boundaries of documentary practice.

AI & Cinema

Work at the intersection of AI and cinema — through the documentary film Afterlives, the essay "Seeing without Seeing," the Future of Reality Conference, and vibecoding experiments.

🐆 Play the Pardo Game

Writing & Teaching

Since January 2022, in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival, I hold the newly created position as Professor for the Future of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).

At USI, I mentor my students on a practical and theoretical journey on the current phenomena that are shaping the Future of Cinema: from social media to digital technologies, streaming platforms, virtual reality, and emerging physical places where film is increasingly present, such as museums, art galleries, and urban spaces.

Kevin B. Lee teaching
Surviving the Future: Video essays as exploratory film festival researchNECSUS – European Journal of Media Studies, Spring 2025
Guest Editor, Video Essay Dossier on Locarno Film FestivalNECSUS – European Journal of Media Studies, Spring 2025
Editor, The Future of SurvivalDiaphanes, Zürich & Berlin, 2025
Re-finding Found Footage: Encounters with the Video EssayIn Found Footage & Collage Films, ed. César Ustarroz, Found Footage Magazine, Mar 2025
Investigating Ecocinema through the Video EssayAcademic Quarter, nr. 27, Aug 2024 (with Silvia Cipelletti)
How to Reflect on Desktop TutorialIn Counter Tutorials, Corinne Mazzoli, Krisis Publishing, May 2024
The video essay as an emerging ecocinema practiceWdk magazine, Feb 2024
Poll Position column seriesSight & Sound Magazine, May–Dec 2023 (8 issues)
Desktop Documentary: From Artefact to Artist(ic) EmotionsNECSUS, Jun 2023 (with Ariel Avissar)
Critical Spectatorship, Violent CareRosa Mercedes: Mit Farocki, Harun Farocki Institut, Sep 2022
Suture Goes Meta: Desktop Documentary and its Narrativization of Screen-Mediated ExperienceQuarterly Review of Film and Video, Feb 2022 (with Jiří Anger)
Preparing for the Future of Cinema and AudiovisualUSI, BA in Communication, 2026
Digital Screen FuturesUSI, Masters Specialization, 2025
REAL Academy at Locarno Film FestivalUSI / Locarno Film Festival, 2025
Film Festival Economies and EcologiesUSI, BA in Communication, 2025
Video Essay Atelier – Spatial Practices of the Video EssayAccademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, 2025 (with Silvia Cipelletti)
Preparing for the Future of Cinema and the AudiovisualUSI, BA in Communication, 2024
Video Essay for Communications, Culture and SocietyUSI, Masters Program, 2024
Patterns and Performances: Experimental Video Essay in Times of AIUSI, 2024
Video Essay Atelier – Borders, Boundaries and EthicsAccademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, 2024 (with Silvia Cipelletti)
PhD & MA Thesis DirectionVideographic criticism, archival cinema, AI studies
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🌙 Wed 12:00
Future of Cinema — Notes

Future of Cinema

Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema and the Audiovisual Arts at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). Since 2022.

Leading research and public initiatives exploring emerging forms of audiovisual culture, from video essay methodology to AI and environmental studies.

Current Research

  • SNSF Project: The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies
  • Focus: Videographic criticism, AI and cinema, ecocinema
  • Conferences: Future of Reality (Aug 2025), Locarno

Recent Publications

  • 2025: "Surviving the Future" — NECSUS
  • 2025: "Seeing without Seeing" — Carrier Bag
  • 2023: "Desktop documentary as scholarly subjectivity" — NECSUS

Teaching

  • Digital Screen Futures (Masters)
  • Video Essay for Communications, Culture and Society
  • PhD & MA Supervision

Research Initiatives

📚 SNSF Research Project

The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies

Investigating how videographic practices generate new modes of knowledge, critique, and artistic expression.

🎬 Future of Cinema Conference

Annual conference series at Locarno Film Festival examining how AI and algorithmic media reshape documentary and nonfiction forms.

🎓 REAL Academy

Partnership program bringing together emerging filmmakers and scholars to explore the boundaries of documentary practice.

Selected Writing

Teaching

Courses explore the intersection of cinema studies, emerging media, and critical theory.

Graduate Seminar

Digital Screen Futures

USI · Masters Specialization

Graduate Seminar

Video Essay for Communications, Culture and Society

USI · Masters Program

Undergraduate Seminar

Festival Economies and Ecologies

Media Studies

Supervision

PhD & MA Thesis Direction

Videographic criticism, archival cinema, AI studies

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