Rotterdam Tiger Award winning filmmaker Paz Fábrega and exiled Nicaraguan director Gloria Carrión are among those set to present projects at this year’s edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors programme.
The initiative, aimed at supporting independent cinema from the global south and east, is entering the second of a three-year cycle focused on Latin America and the Caribbean and takes place August 3-8 as part of the Locarno Film Festival.
Scroll down for full list of projects and participants
Open Doors will present eight projects in its Projects’ Hub co-production initiative, and a further eight participants will join its producer training programme, Producers’ Lab.
Costa Rican director Paz Fábrega, whose Cold Water Of The Sea won the Tiger Award in Rotterdam in 2010, attends the Projects’ Hub with Milky Way (Vía Láctea). Nicaraguan director Gloria Carrión returns to Locarno with animated hybrid Pantasma after her 2022 short Leaves of K. was part of the Open Doors Screenings.
Jamaican director Gibrey Allen attends with his second feature Raised By Goats after meeting the film’s producer Nadean Rawlins through Open Doors in 2022 where he was showing his first feature.
Also being presented is animated horror LOA. Kill Your Masters by first-time filmmaker Carlos Zerpa from Venezuela who received the Open Doors’ Online Script Consultancy during last year’s session, as well as Last Of The Kings, a vampire western film by Peruvian director Victor Checa, whose first feature The Shape of Things to Come) was presented at Tallinn Black Nights. Other countries represented in the Hub are Bolivia, Dominican Republic and El Salvador.
The Projects’ Hub winners receive prizes including the Open Doors Grant, worth £44,000 (CHF 50,000).
This year’s Producers’ Lab includes Guatamala’s Joaquín Ruano, the executive producer of César Díaz’s Cannes Camera d’Or winner Our Mothers in 2019, and Ana Isabel Martins Palacios (Honduras), producer of Mario Ramos’ La Condesa. Samuel Suffren (Haiti) and Daniela Muñoz (Cuba) return to Open Doors to develop their projects as creative producers at the Lab. Both participated in the Open Doors Screenings in 2022 with their shorts Agwe (2021) and Umbra (Gloom, 2021) respectively. Other participants come from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.
Open Doors is also launching a third talent development programme, the Directors’ Club. Aimed at directors whose films are selected for the Open Doors Screenings, part of Locarno’s official selection, it will offer talks, workshops and networking opportunities.
The participants of the Director’s Club will be announced together with the official selection of the Locarno Film Festival on 5 July 2023.
Open Doors head Zsuzsi Bánkuti said: “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.”
Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro said: “The Open Doors participants are all catalysts for their local film scene, and we are excited to introduce a new generation of filmmakers to the international film industry as well as create a strong network between the participants regionally.”
The Open Doors programme will take place online in July and onsite during the Locarno Pro Days (August 3-9).
Projects’ Hub selection
Desidia (Bol)
Dir. Leandro Grillo
Prod. Alejandra Antequera, Trisomia Cine
El Ultimo Rey (Last Of Kings) (Peru-Ger-Mex)
Dir. Victor Checa
Prod. Jimena Hospina, Pierrot Films
Libertinas (Libertines) (El Salv)
Dir. Leslie Ortiz
Prod. Adriana Morán, Relativo Films
Loa. Mata A Tus Amos (LOA. Kill Your Masters) (Ven)
Dir. Carlos Zerpa
Prod. Carlos Zerpa, Mecha
Pantasma (Nic-Costa Rica-Hon)
Dir. Gloria Carrión
Prod. Leonor Zúniga
Raised By Goats (Jamaica)
Dir. Gibrey Allen
Prod. Nadean Rawlins, Raw Management Agency
Tres Balas (Three Bullets) (Dom Rep)
Dir. Génesis Valenzuela
Prod. Wendy Espinal, Colectivo Cinematográfico 81
Vía Láctea (Milky Way) (Costa Rica-Uruguay)
Dir. Paz Fábrega
Prod. Federico Moreira, La Mayor Cine
Producers’ Lab
Veronica Haro
Abril films (Ecuador)
Ana Isabel Martins Palacios
Fosforito Films (Hond)
Daniela Muñoz
Estudio ST (Cuba)
Carlos Ormeño Palma
La Fiebre Films (Peru)
Gregorio Rodríguez
Casa Latina Films (Dom Rep)
Joaquín Ruano
Producciones Concepción (Guat)
Samuel Suffren
Kitfilms (Haiti)
Ivana Urízar
Cine Mío (Paraguay)
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