At the Locarno Film Festival's industry programme, this year's Heritage Monday panel tackled how to draw younger audiences to older, classic films, amid growing interest in restoration and retrospective programming. Panellists including Leslie Vuchot (Timeless Cinema), Amy Homma (Academy Museum of Motion Pictures), Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (Arsenal Filminstitut) and Eddie Muller (Film Noir Foundation) argued that young cinemagoers are actively seeking out black-and-white and archival films to understand cinema's roots, rather than avoiding them.

Panellists described practical strategies for engagement: Muller recreates mid-20th-century cinema experiences with double features and ushers, and takes school groups to festivals, noting that even a small fraction of students in a class can be deeply moved by seeing films like "To Have and Have Not" on the big screen. Homma highlighted efforts such as bringing a real Dalmatian to a "101 Dalmatians" screening with live-drawing animator sessions, and hosting Guillermo del Toro to discuss Alfred Hitchcock's work using the Academy's archive, framing the approach as meeting audiences "where they're at" despite competition from social media.