The Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors programme has announced Africa as its next region of focus.
Open Doors was created by the Locarno festival in 2003 as a partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), a body under the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The aim being to foster co-production and develop artistic talent in underrepresented communities.
The programme announced recipients of an Open Doors Grant earlier today. Valued at CHF50,000, the grant will be shared among four projects from Latin America and the Carribean, which make up the outgoing focus region. A €8,000 CNC Development Grant was also announced. Partners of the programme handed out other awards.
Up next is Africa. Speaking on the development, Patricia Danzi, Director General of the SDC, said, “The African continent is a focus region for international cooperation of SDC and for the next four years we will continue to develop synergies between the SDC Programmes and Locarno Open Doors. Arts and culture are engines for social change and creativity and contribute to social cohesion and peace. Hence, they are indispensable for societal progress.”
Details to follow
The programme will make more announcements concerning the new focus region in the coming months.
“After three successful years of focusing on Latin American and the Caribbean, we are excited to announce that our attention will now shift to the African continent for the next four years,” said Zsuzsi Bánkuti, head of the Open Doors programme.
“This transition is not just about changing our focus, but about expanding our work. We plan to foster strong collaborations between Latin American, the Caribbean and the African continent, ensuring that the connections of the previous years continue while forming new ones. Building on this year’s focus on collaborative efforts, our goal is to create a connected and thriving network that benefits all regions.”
The 2024 Locarno Film Festival continues. On 17 August, the festival will host the Open Doors Screenings, a non-competitive section showing projects from the outgoing focus regions.
