Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors’ invitation-only Screenings section hosts eight features and nine shorts by filmmakers from the Caribbean, Central and South America - talent who also take part in the talks, workshops and networking opportunities offered by the Directors Club programme.
The Beach Of Enchaquirados 2021 (Ecua)
Dir. Iván Mora Manzano
Ecuadorian director and editor Mora Manzano’s documentary The Beach Of Enchaquirados (La Playa De Los Enchaquirados) marks a return to factual work. It details the story of Vicky, who works on fishing boats by day and in a bar at night, and the local transgender community of which she is part. Mora Manzano is currently working on two projects: Cleiderman, a fiction film about a classical piano teacher in a dangerous neighbourhood who meets a young violinist, and Compadre Fannie, a documentary about a 48-year-old musician, astrologer and Uber driver who decides to transition into a woman, sharing the journey with his adolescent son.
Contact: Alfredo Mora Manzano, La Republica Invisible
Black Mother 2018 (Jam-US)
Dir. Khalik Allah
New York-based Jamaican-Iranian filmmaker Allah’s doc Black Mother explores his parents’ home of Jamaica. His previous work has been described as “street opera” and noted for its visceral humanity. Black Motherscreened at Cinéma du Réel in Paris, Sheffield DocFest, Kosovo’s Dokufest and MoMA in New York. Khalik recently completed a residency at the Camargo Foundation in France, developing a fiction feature to be shot in Jamaica.
Contact: Cinereach
Bionico’s Bachata 2024 (Dom Rep)
Dir. Yoel Morales
Part of the Caribbean filmmaking collective Mentes Fritas, Morales has directed several features including Open Doors screener Bionico’s Bachata (La Bachata De Bionico), winner of an audience award at SXSW this year. The film is billed as a raw vision of love in a hostile Caribbean city and follows a hopeless romantic, addicted to crack cocaine, who must regain control of his life if he wants to marry the woman he loves. Morales is developing his next feature, Dominican Republic-Italy co-production The Baker (Il Panettiere), for 2025. It is about an immigrant baker who must face the horror of the streets to grow the business.
Contact: Mentes Fritas Film Production
Eami 2022 (Para)
Dir. Paz Encina
Paraguayan filmmaker Encina’s Eami is a magic-realism tale. It follows a young Indigenous girl of Paraguay’s Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe, whose rainforest village is lost to deforestation. She embarks on a magic and nature-infused journey through the jungle and her coming to terms with having to live outside it. Encina’s debut feature Paraguayan Hammock premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2006, winning the Fipresci prize. Her second, documentary Memory Exercises (Ejercicios De Memoria), debuted at San Sebastian in 2016. Eami won the Tiger award at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2022. Encina is currently developing Unique Time (El Único Tiempo), selected as one of eight titles in this year’s Projects Hub.
Contact: Quentin Worthington, MPM Premium
Lost Chapters 2024 (Ven-US)
Dir. Lorena Alvarado
Venezuelan filmmaker Alvarado’s debut Lost Chapters (Los Capítulos Perdidos) tells the tale of Ena who returns to Venezuela, after spending years overseas, to find her grandmother losing her memory and her father searching for rare Venezuelan books. It premiered at France’s FIDMarseille in June. Alvarado is developing her second feature Gótico Lánguido. It will be a loose sequel to her debut, featuring books and further family drama. She is a graduate of Emerson College in the US, alumna of Fabrica Research Center in Italy, and a member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Omnes Films.
Contact: Lorena Alvarado, Discordia Cine, La Mala Films, Omnes Films
Raíz 2024 (Peru-Chile)
Dir Franco Garcia Becerra
Garcia Becerra’s second feature film Raíz made its world premiere at the Berlinale in February. It details the story of an eight-year-old alpaca herder in Peru who dreams of his country’s qualification to the football World Cup, while a mining company puts his village at risk. The filmmaker is currently developing a story framed in the Andean ‘cosmovision’ philosophy, placing humanity and civilisation as part of the biosphere. Becerra is also writing a separate script, Transición, set in 1821 Peru as it became a republic independent from Spanish control.
Contact: Luxbox Film
The Skin Of The Water 2024 (Costa Rica-Chile)
Dir. Patricia Velásquez
Costa Rican filmmaker Velásquez, who founded production company Tiempo Líquido in 2008 with Oscar Herrera, will hop over from her participation in this year’s Open Doors Producers Lab to support The Skin Of The Water (La Piel Del Agua). Her film details the story of a teenage girl forced to live with a father she hates after her mother falls into a coma. She meets a young man but his chaotic lifestyle does not help her situation. The Skin Of The Water is Velasquez’s second feature in the director’s chair after Two Waters (Dos Aguas) in 2015.
Contact: Tiempo Líquido
Uncivilized 2019 (Dominica)
Dir. Michael Lees
This documentary follows Lees, a Dominica island filmmaker and photographer, as he sets off into the forest with minimal tools to ponder the question, “What makes for a good life?” Three months into the trip, category five hurricane Maria hits the island, leaving Lees and his country fighting for survival. The filmmaker is developing Behind God’s Back, a documentary about a village abandoned after tropical storm Erika in 2015 that remains home to a few hardy citizens. He is also developing docuseries Future Roots, seeking out Indigenous wisdom and solutions in a world affected by climate change.
Contact: Michael Lees, One Off Productions
Short-film selection
Aphorisms Of The Lake (Aforismos Del Lago) 2021 (Ven)
Dir. Humberto Gonzalez Bustillo
About Queens And Other Colors (De Reinas Y Otros Colores) 2021 (Guat)
Dir. Juan Herrera Zuluaga
Back To Las Maravillas (Las Maravillas) 2024 (Ecua)
Dir. Roberth Mendoza
I Love Papuchi 2018 (Cuba)
Dir. Rosa Maria Rodriguez
Kenbe Alada 2020 (Haiti)
Dir. Wendy Desert
Land Of Milk (Tierra De Leche) 2023 (Nic-US)
Dir. Milton Guillen
Sirena 2024 (Dom Rep)
Dir. Olivia De Camps
Three Leaves (Twa Fèy) 2021 (Haiti-Belg)
Dirs. Sephora Monteau, Eléonore Coyette
What Humans See As Blood, Jaguars See As Chicha (Lo Que Los Humanos Ven Como Sangre Los Jaguares Ven Como Chicha) 2023 (Bol)
Dir. Luciana Decke
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