For the second year in a row, the Locarno Film Festival launches its Open Doors programme, a co-production platform focusing on films from underrepresented countries , as well as films from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The 2023 Open Doors project hub lineup announced Wednesday includes eight features in development from across the Americas.
Highlights include Galaxy , the latest feature film from Costa Rican director Paz Fábrega, Its “Cold Water” won the 500 Tiger Award for Best Film at the Rotterdam Film Festival; Nicaraguan director in exile Gloria Carrión’s animated hybrid Pantasma, whose short film Leaves of K. Screened at Open Doors last year; Jamaican drama Raised by Goats , directed by Gibré Allen (just off the beach ); Animated Horror LOA. Kill Your Masters Carlos Zerpa, a first-time filmmaker from Venezuela, won the 2021 Open Doors Online Script Consulting Award in Locarno last year, at During last year’s conference; The Last King , a vampire western from Peruvian director Victor Checa, whose debut feature The Shape of Things to Come was screened at the Tallinn Dark Night Film Festival in 2021.
Also in this year’s lineup is the Bolivian drama Desidia by director Leandro Grillo ) from the Dominican Republic Three Bullets , and the play Libertines by El Salvadoran director Leslie Ortiz ).
All will compete for the Open Doors Grant for $55,(Swiss Franc55,000) cash grants, and several other incentives, including $8, 500 (€ 8,000) Prizes from French CNC, Arte France’s Arte Kino 2023International bonus, 6 dollars, 55 6 euros, 000) Bursaries and prizes in kind – provided by Sørfond Film Foundation BrLab, LEXIA Insights, World Cinema Foundation, International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF), IFFR Pro, Moulin d’Andé – CECI and Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur – — all to help young filmmakers with their latest projects.
The Open Doors conference will also include Locarno’s Producer’s Lab, a series designed to enhance collaboration among producers in the region and address important topics in the industry. This year’s lab participants will include Guatemalan filmmaker Joaquín Ruano, winner of the 500 Cannes Camera d’Or for César Díaz Our Mothers ; Ana Isabel Martins Palacios from Honduras, Mario Ramos’ La Condesa (2019) producer; and two 2021 Open Doors short film participants: Haitian producer Samuel Suffren and Cuban Daniela Muñoz .
This year, Locarno also launched its third talent development programme: the Directors Club, which invites filmmakers to screen their latest short and feature films as part of the Open Doors event and participate in A series of talks, workshops and networking opportunities. The Locarno Film Festival Official Selection on July 5 will announce the contestants and their films.
The 21st Open Doors event will be held online in July and will be held in August Held live from the 3rd to the 9th, the Locarno Pro Days is an industry-focused event. 2023 Locarno Film Festival will be held on August 2nd – 21.
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