The list of in-development projects includes a vampire western from Peru, an animated horror movie from Venezuela, and a drama from Jamaica.
The Locarno Film Festival is focusing its Open Doors program, a co-production platform that emphasizes filmmaking from underrepresented countries, on films from Latin America and the Caribbean for the second consecutive year.
Eight in-development features from the Americas are part of the 2023 Open Doors project hub lineup, which was announced on Wednesday.
Among the highlights are Milky Way, the latest feature from Costa Rican director Paz Fábrega, whose Cold Water of the Sea won the Tiger Award for best film at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival; the animated hybrid Pantasma by exiled Nicaraguan director Gloria Carrión, whose short Leaves of K. screened in Open Doors last year; the Jamaican drama Raised by Goats, by director Gibrey Allen (Right Near the Beach); animated horror LOA. Kill Your Masters from first-time filmmaker Carlos Zerpa from Venezuela, winner of the 2022 Open Doors’ online script consultancy award in Locarno last year, during last year’s session; and Last of the Kings, a vampire western from Peruvian director Victor Checa, whose debut feature The Shape of Things to Come screened at the Tallinn Black Nights festival in 2021.
Director Leandro Grillo’s drama Desidia from Bolivia, Génesis Valenzuela’s Three Bullets from the Dominican Republic, and Leslie Ortiz’s drama Libertines from El Salvador are all included in this year’s list.
The Open Doors Grant, which includes a $55,000 (CHF 50,000) cash bursary and a number of additional prizes, like the $8,500 (€8,000) grant from France’s CNC, Arte, will be up for grabs by all. The $6,400 ($6,000) bursary and in-kind awards offered by the Sørfond Film Fund, the BrLab, LEXIA Insights, World Cinema Fund, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), IFFR Pro, Moulin d’Andé – CECI, and the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur are all part of the Arte Kino International Prize in France, which is intended to assist young filmmakers in finishing their most recent works.
The Locarno Producers’ Lab, a series of workshops and talks aimed at enhancing collaborations between producers in the regions and addressing crucial issues in the industry, will also be a part of the Open Doors events. Joaqun Ruano from Guatemala, executive producer of César Dáz’s Our Mothers, which won the 2019 Cannes Camera d’Or, Ana Isabel Martins Palacios from Honduras, producer of Mario Ramos’ La Condesa (2020), and Samuel Suffren from Haiti, producer of the 2022 Open Doors shorts, and Daniela Muoz from Cuba, will both be participating in the lab this year.
The Directors’ Club, which Locarno is introducing this year, will allow filmmakers to screen their most recent shorts and features as part of the Open Door event and take part in a number of discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities. On July 5, the Locarno Film Festival will reveal its official lineup along with the participants and their films.
The 21st Open Doors event will be held online in July and on-site in Locarno Pro Days, the festival’s segment devoted to business, from August 3 to August 9. August 2–12 is the Locarno Film Festival in 2023.
