Locarno unveils producers and projects for Africa-focused Open Doors programme

Open Doors, the Locarno Film Festival’s co-production platform and talent development program, has announced the projects and producers participating in the 23rd edition, focusing on the African continent this year.

The Open Doors program, which will be held on August 7-12 at the festival’s industry Strand Locarno Pro, is dedicated to new voices from Africa after a three-year cycle focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Six projects under development have been selected for the Open Door Project, a collaborative platform. they are:

• Congolese military veteran documentary Bilocos (Billocos) Directed by Erickey Bahati and produced by Giresse Kassonga of Gikas Films
• Documentary Animation Hybrid Goat woman’s diary (female hair diary)co-produced by Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, director and producer Azata Solo, nameita lica tour of les studios indigo
• Ethiopian dark comedy Good luck Director habtamu gebrehiwot and producer Nahusenay Dereje of MTF Multimedia
• Nigerian reincarnation romance Until the morning arrives (Kachifo) By Blessing Uzz, producer of Director Dika Ofoma and Bluse Studios.
• Fighter (wrestler), A family drama from Senegale Wrestling, directed by Aracen Sai and producer Jules Dien
• Zimbabwe’s supernatural mystery Black snake Director and Lord, Suna Ellen Chitout and the educator of the 263-reel production

Meanwhile, career building programmers for open door producers won six participants: Kamy Lara (Angola), Moustapha Sawadoga (Kannica (Ethiopia), June Wairegi (Kengi), Yannick Mizero Kabana (Rwanda), and Kudakwashe Miss Maradzika (Zimbabwe).

During Locarno, the ju apprentice will award financial and physical awards to selected winning projects.

Directors participating in the program’s Open Door Screening Strand will be announced on July 8th at the official Locarno Film Festival selection.

Film experts from 42 African countries were eligible to apply to open door programs aimed at equity filmmakers seeking communities and regions where artistic expression is at risk.

Yanis Gaye, new research director at Open Doors, said: “The launch of a new cycle of open doors is an exciting marker of the role the African film industry will play within the global, independent cinema situation over the next few years. The platform designed by our passionate arts team is a space where talent is allowed to continue to form instruments.

Zsuzsi Bánkuti, head of open doors, added: “We welcome the powerful slates of filmmakers, primarily for the first and second time, with their ingenious approaches and formal experiments showing a bold evolution in global film storytelling.