Film Sections

Open Doors Screenings

For more than two decades, the Locarno Film Festival has collaborated with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on the section Open Doors, whose mission is to support filmmakers from under-represented regions around the world, and from countries in which cinema as a form of expression is at risk. From 2022 to 2024, Open Doors has focused on the 22 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean and, throughout the year and during the Festival, carries out professional promotion and training programs in their industries. Concomitantly, the non-competitive section Open Doors Screenings offers audiences in Locarno a selection of feature-length films and shorts that are representative of the region. In 2024, the spotlight is on all regions touched by the three-year cycle: Central America, the Caribbeans, and South America.

The program

The film directors are also invited to take part in a professional program, the Open Doors Directors’ Club, taking place both online (from the 19th to the 29th of July) and onsite (from the 7th to the 14th of August), designed to further build their knowledge and skills, introduce them to the international Festival environment, network with the rest of the Open Doors delegation and with industry guests and talents in Locarno.

The 2024 edition will focus on films and talent from all the countries that have been part of the focus regions over the three-year period: Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua); the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines); and South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela).

Any questions? Please refer to our FAQs or contact us at opendoors@locarnofestival.ch.