Locarno Film Festival -- Open Doors

Overview

Open Doors is a co-production platform and industry program within the Locarno Film Festival dedicated to supporting cinema from underrepresented regions. Founded in 2003, the program focuses on a rotating geographic area each year -- typically a region of Asia, Africa, or Latin America that receives limited international co-production support -- and provides development funding, mentorship, and industry connections to filmmakers from that region.

Open Doors operates on the principle that the global film industry leaves significant talent underfunded and unseen because of structural barriers to international co-production. By concentrating resources and attention on a specific region each year, the program creates meaningful impact rather than spreading thin support across too many countries.

The program runs during the Locarno Film Festival in August, providing participating filmmakers with access to the full range of Locarno's industry activities alongside the dedicated Open Doors program. The combination of peer support within the cohort and access to Locarno's international industry community creates a powerful development environment.

Key Sections

• Hub -- workshops and masterclasses for selected filmmakers
• Lab -- project development sessions for specific projects in the cohort
• Co-Production Meetings -- structured meetings with international co-producers and distributors
• Open Doors Screenings -- a curated program of completed films from the focus region
• Open Doors Grant -- production and post-production grants for selected projects

What Filmmakers Should Know

Open Doors accepts applications from filmmakers in the focus region for each year's program. Applications are competitive and the program selects a cohort of approximately 10 to 15 projects. The geographic focus changes each year, so filmmakers should check which region is featured when planning applications.

The grants distributed by Open Doors are meaningful in size for the markets they support, and the co-production connections made during the program have helped numerous films secure international distribution.

Festival History

Open Doors was founded in 2003 as part of Locarno's commitment to expanding the geographic diversity of its program. The initiative has supported filmmakers from across Africa, Asia, and Latin America over more than two decades.

See Also

For the Locarno Film Festival, see Locarno Film Festival. For international co-production, see Film Financing Guide.