The Festival del film Locarno’s Co-production Lab Open Doors is dedicated this year to four countries from the Maghreb: Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. 12 projects will be brought to Locarno by their directors and producers to present them to potential partners.
With the support of the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Open Doors aims to support and highlight filmmakers from a region in the world’s South and East where independent cinema is vulnerable. Open Doors encourages the provision of funding for the selected projects, giving their representatives the opportunity to present them to international producers.
For the thirteenth edition, taking place 8 – 11 August, the 12 selected projects are:
• Aller simple by Nadia Raïs (Tunisia)
• Dieu reconnaîtra les siens by Hassan Legzouli (Morocco)
• En attendant les hirondelles by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria)
• Inhebek Hedi by Mohamed Ben Attia (Tunisia)
• L’Amour des hommes by Mehdi Ben Attia (Tunisia/France)
• Le Fort des fous by Narimane Mari (Algeria)
• Le Sacrifié by Amin Sidi-Boumédiène (Algeria)
• Pagan Magic by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco/France)
• Retina by Nejib Belkadhi (Tunisia)
• Ruqya by Yanis Koussim (Algeria/France)
• Saint inconnu by Alaa Eddine Aljem (Morocco)
• The Colonel’s Stray Dogs by Khalid Shamis (Libya/South Africa)
At the conclusion of these four days, several awards will be given. A prize, worth 50,000 CHF, is funded by the Open Doors initiative in collaboration with the Town of Bellinzona and the Swiss production support fund Visions Sud Est, also supported by the SDC. The CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée) will give a prize of 10,000 Euros and ARTE will give an award worth 6,000 Euros. ICAM (Investing in Culture & Art in the South Mediterranean), a new initiative funded by the European Union (Programme Med Culture), will give for the first time a prize for development or postproduction.
As last year three producers of the selected projects will have the opportunity to participate in the Cannes Film Market’s Producers Network during the 2016 festival.
Workshops relating to current issues in independent film production and distribution will be organized for participants. Thanks to partnership with the TorinoFilmLab, some project will also be offered a guidance program for the writing.
Open Doors is organized in close collaboration with the Locarno Festival’s Industry Office and enjoys the support of the partners ACE (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen), EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) and Marché du Film Producers Network (Cannes Festival). The Festival has drawn on assistance from Alex Moussa Sawadogo, African cinema expert and director of the Afrikamera festival in Berlin.
The section also offers the Festival’s audience an opportunity to see a selection of films representative of the cinemas of the countries involved: the Open Doors Screenings program will be announced at a press conference on 15 July, along with the Festival’s complete selection.
The project dossiers can be viewed on the website www.pardo.ch
