The Locarno Film Festival has announced the line-up for the 21st edition of its Open Doors program, which will focus on filmmakers from underrepresented countries in Latin America and the Caribbean for the second year running.
The program runs online in July and onsite during the festival’s Locarno Pro Days industry sidebar, running from August 3 to 9.
The eight films in development selected for its Project Hub coproduction platform include Milky Way (Vía láctea) from Costa Rican director Paz Fábrega, whose Cold Water of the Sea won the Tiger Award in Rotterdam in 2010.
Further projects include exiled Nicaraguan director Gloria Carrión’s animated hybrid work Pantasma; Jamaican director Gibrey Allen’s Raised by Goats; first-time Venezuelan filmmaker Carlos Zerpa’s LOA. Kill Your Masters (LOA. Mata a tus amos) as well as vampire western Last of the Kings by Peruvian director Victor Checa. His first feature The Shape of Things to Come (Tiempos futuros) was presented at Tallinn Black Nights.
Other countries represented in the Hub are Bolivia, Dominican Republic and El Salvador.
The projects will be in running the $55,000 Open Doors Grant, the $8,500 (€8,000) CNC prize and the $6,400 (€6,000) Arte prize as well as a number of in-kind awards.
The eight producers selected for the Producers Lab include Guatemala’s Joaquín Ruano, executive producer on César Díaz’s Cannes 2019 Caméra d’Or winner Our Mothers (Nuestras madres) and Honduras’s Ana Isabel Martins Palacios, whose credits include Mario Ramos’ La Condesa.
Alongside its long-running Projects’ Hub and Producers’ Lab, Open Doors is launching a third strand bannered the Directors’ Club this year.
The talent-focused program is aimed at directors with short or feature-length films selected for the Open Doors Screenings, a sidebar within Locarno’s official selection.
The participants and their films will be announced together with the official selection of the Locarno Film Festival on 5 July 2023.
“In the last few years, we have seen the directors of the Open Doors Screenings naturally connect within the festival. To encourage this and provide the attending filmmakers with even more opportunities to make the most out of their festival experience, we have decided to create a special talent hub for them, the Directors’ Club,” said Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Head of Open Doors.
The full list of Open Doors Project and Producers
Projects’ Hub
Desidia
Director: Leandro Grillo
Producer: Alejandra Antequera, Trisomia Cine
Bolivia
El ultimo rey (Last of Kings)
Director: Victor Checa
Producer: Jimena Hospina, Pierrot Films
Peru, Germany, Mexico
Libertinas (Libertines)
Director: Leslie Ortiz
Producer: Adriana Morán, Relativo Films
El Salvador
LOA. Mata a tus amos (LOA. Kill Your Masters)
Director: Carlos Zerpa
Producer: Carlos Zerpa, Mecha
Venezuela
Pantasma
Director: Gloria Carrión
Producer: Leonor Zúniga
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras
Raised by Goats
Director: Gibrey Allen
Producer: Nadean Rawlins, Raw Management Agency
Jamaica
Tres balas (Three Bullets)
Director: Génesis Valenzuela
Producer:Wendy Espinal, Colectivo Cinematográfico 81
Dominican Republic
Vía láctea (Milky Way)
Director: Paz Fábrega
Producer: Federico Moreira, La Mayor Cine
Costa Rica, Uruguay
Producers’ Lab
Veronica Haro
Abril films, Ecuador
Ana Isabel Martins Palacios
Fosforito Films, Honduras
Daniela Muñoz
Estudio ST, Cuba
Carlos Ormeño Palma
La Fiebre Films, Peru
Gregorio Rodríguez
Casa Latina Films, Dominican Republic
Joaquín Ruano
Producciones Concepción, Guatemala
Samuel Suffren
Kitfilms, Haiti
Ivana Urízar
Cine Mío, Paraguay