Even in a year beset by the global pandemic, the Locarno Pro initiative Open Doors has continued its three-year cycle (2019-2021), focusing on Southeast Asia (Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines) and Mongolia, bringing to the Festival’s international platform a selection of eight full-length projects seeking international co-production partners (Hub) plus nine creative producers (Lab), all from the region involved.
As witnessed by the numerous awards and incentives (full details below) assigned to the best projects and talents from the region, Open Doors and its partners are once again asserting their determination to provide visibility and concrete support for independent filmmaking in the Global South and East in all its diversity.
The awards ceremony took place today on Zoom and was broadcasted live on YouTube (to watch again, go here.
Open Doors Hub
The Open Doors jury awarded seven prizes to the following projects from the Open Doors Hub, with the aim of offering better conditions for their development and production:
Open Doors Grant: financed by the Swiss production support fund Visions Sud Est (backed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SDC) and by the City of Bellinzona.
- Production support (CHF 40’000 CHF) to:
ZE
by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, Mongolia/France
- Development support (CHF 14’000 CHF) to:
ZSA ZSA ZATURNNAH VS THE AMAZONISTAS OF PLANET X
by Avid Liongoren, Philippines/France
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Development support (CHF 14’000 CHF) to:
INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL
by An Pham Thien, Vietnam/Singapore/France
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Development grant CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (€ 8,000) to:
FRUIT GATHERING
by Aung Phyoe, Myanmar/France/Czech Republic
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ARTE Kino International Prize (€ 6,000) to:
OASIS OF NOW
by Chee Sum Chia, Malaysia
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Open Doors – Sørfond Award to:
THIS CITY IS A BATTLEFIELD
by Mouly Surya, Indonesia/Singapore/Philippines
The prize consists of an opportunity to attend Sørfond’s forthcoming Pitching from the South event.
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Premio Open Doors – Moulin d’Andé – CECI to:
Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
with the project ZE
A screenwriting residency for an emerging director of full-length films who has participated in Open Doors 2020 (Hub, Lab or Screenings), enabling further development of their project.
Open Doors Lab
- Open Doors – Rotterdam Lab Award to:
Uran Sainbileg
producer, IFI Production, Mongolia
An opportunity to take part in the Rotterdam Lab 2021 training workshop, together with a delegation of emerging producers on the international scene, in collaboration with IFFR Pro.
Open Doors is organized in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), and with numerous European and international organizations:
ACE Producers, European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), the Winterthur International Short Film Festival, Festival Scope, Produire au Sud/Festival des Trois Continents, SEAFIC (Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab), AFiS Busan Asian Film School, ACM (Arts Council of Mongolia) and Ulaanbaatar International Film Festival, Autumn Meeting (Vietnam), the Cambodia Film Commission and Bophana Center, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP, Philippines), J Akatara Film Financing Forum (Indonesia), MEMORY! International Film Heritage Festival (Myanmar).
Open Doors Hub and Lab were held online to allow all the selected filmmakers and producers to take part, with the activities taking place from August 6 to 11 during this year’s special edition of the Festival, Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films.
The Open Doors Screenings continue online throughout the Festival and can be watched on demand on the new platform play.locarnofestival.ch. Meanwhile the special season of physical screenings Through the Open Doors is still under way in theaters in Locarno and Muralto, with an anthology of titles as a homage to the initiative’s first eighteen years
