Locarno Film Festival - Open Doors

Overview

Open Doors is the Locarno Film Festival's co-production platform and talent development program for filmmakers from regions where artistic expression is under threat or structurally underfunded. Founded in 2003, the program is now in the second year of a four-year cycle (2025-2028) dedicated exclusively to 42 countries across the African continent. The 2026 edition selected 6 feature film projects in development, 6 creative producers, and 5 directors from across Africa, bringing them to Locarno for co-production meetings, training, and networking with international partners.

The program runs in two phases: online sessions between June and July 2026, followed by an on-site residency from August 5 to 10, 2026, during the 79th Locarno Film Festival and its industry strand, Locarno Pro. At the end of the on-site program on August 10, a jury of industry professionals awards cash and in-kind prizes to selected winning projects. The top prize is the Open Doors Grant of CHF 50,000 (approximately USD 57,000), sponsored by Visions Sud Est and the City of Bellinzona. Additional prizes include the CNC Development Prize of EUR 8,000, the Arte Kino International Prize of EUR 6,000, and a new EAVE Marketing Workshop scholarship worth EUR 4,000 from EAVE and the Luxembourg Film Fund.

For African filmmakers with a first or second feature in development, Open Doors provides direct access to international co-producers, distributors, sales agents, and festival programmers who attend Locarno Pro. The program does not charge a submission fee. Applications are submitted directly through the Open Doors portal with a required project dossier in English.

Key Sections

• Open Doors Projects - 6 feature-length projects (first or second features) in development from eligible African countries; director-producer teams receive preparatory coaching and meet with potential international partners
• Open Doors Producers - 6 creative producers from eligible countries selected for a training and networking workshop focused on company development and cross-border co-production relationships
• Open Doors Directors - 5 directors selected for talks, workshops, and industry networking; their short films screen as part of the Open Doors Screenings program
• Open Doors Screenings - public screenings of completed films from the focus region, including short films by the selected directors
• ToolBox - a year-round knowledge-sharing and networking platform for filmmakers and producers from Open Doors' current and past focus regions, accessible 365 days a year
• Open Doors Talks - public discussions and masterclasses during the festival focusing on cinema from the focus region

Eligibility and Application

Eligible countries (42): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Not eligible: Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tunisia.

Projects program requirements:

• The director must be a citizen of one of the 42 eligible countries
• The producer can be of another nationality, but if the director and producer are the same person, the production company must be registered in an eligible country
• Projects must be feature-length (first or second feature)
• No initial financing is required to apply
• No budget range restrictions, but applicants must consider the impact of international co-production on their estimated budget

Producers program requirements:

• The applying producer must be a citizen of one of the 42 eligible countries
• Must have a registered production company in one of those countries
• Must be active in the region, supporting their regional and local film industry
• Applies with a slate of projects representing their company

Directors program requirements:

• The applying director must be a citizen of one of the 42 eligible countries
• Can apply with a maximum of 2 short films directed and completed within the last 5 years
• Selected directors' short films screen as part of Open Doors Screenings

Application process:

• Submissions must be completed in English
• A detailed dossier (project overview, development strategy, financing plan, supporting materials) is required for Projects and Producers, submitted as a single PDF
• The application deadline for the 2026 edition was January 15, 2026, at 11:59 PM CET
• The new call for applications opens in November each year
• Applicants are notified by mid-April 2026
• An information webinar was held on November 26, 2025, covering eligibility, application preparation, and program expectations

Major Awards and Prizes

• Open Doors Grant - CHF 50,000 (approximately USD 57,000), sponsored by Visions Sud Est and the City of Bellinzona, awarded to a winning project
• CNC Development Prize - EUR 8,000, from the Centre National du Cinema et de l'Image Animee (France)
• Arte Kino International Prize - EUR 6,000, from the Franco-German broadcaster Arte
• EAVE Marketing Workshop Scholarship - EUR 4,000, new in 2026, from EAVE and the Luxembourg Film Fund
• AFP Critics Prize - USD 500 cash award plus a certificate and ongoing editorial coverage across African Film Press's three founding publications (Akoroko, Sinema Focus, and What Kept Me Up)
• Additional in-kind awards from industry partners

2026 Selected Projects

The 2026 Open Doors Projects selected 6 first and second features from 10 different African countries:

• Accept My Plea for Burial (Baryo Aas Iga Gudoon) - dir. Mohammed Sheikh (Somalia), prod. Kadir Harbi Hassan, Aleel Films (Djibouti); fiction exploring tensions between tradition and justice in a rural community
• Chapa 100 - dir. Ique Langa (Mozambique), prod. Lara Sousa, Kulunga Filmes (Mozambique/South Africa); an urban, surrealist love story
• I Live in V.I. - dir. Ugochukwu Azuya (Nigeria), prod. Olubunmi Ogunsola, Ensemble (Nigeria); a social satire about urban space and gentrification
• The Ones With the Tempered Flowers - dir. Neema Ngelime (Tanzania), prod. Ivy Kiru, AQ Pictures/LBx Africa (Kenya); an experimental documentary on womanhood and motherhood
• Too Much Music - dir. and prod. Aseye Fiagbe, Aseye Fiagbe Creative Studio (Ghana); a documentary portrait of Ghanaian keyboard prodigy Kiki Gyan
• A Vineyard for A Lobster - dir. Talemwa Pius (Uganda), prod. Gashumba Emmanuel, Gripmagic Uganda Limited (Uganda); fiction using a snow-covered landscape as an allegory for colonialism

The 2026 Open Doors Producers selected 6 participants: Mamounata Nikiema (Burkina Faso, Pilumpiku Production), Natasha Craveiro (Cabo Verde, Korikaxoru Films), Adja Mariam Mahre Soro (Ivory Coast, Studio Ka), David Ikeata (Nigeria, Vox Cinematic Films), Rua Osman (Sudan, Helomur Picture), and Tapiwa Chipfupa (Zimbabwe, Ambidextrous Pictures).

The 2026 Open Doors Directors selected 5 participants: Fagamou Fama Ndiaye (Senegal), Rediet Haddis Yalew (Ethiopia), Pocas Pascoal (Angola), Judith Nini Kibinge (Kenya), and Ariel Anez (Mozambique).

What Filmmakers Should Know

Open Doors is not a film festival in the traditional sense. It is a development and co-production platform. Filmmakers do not submit completed films for screening; they submit projects in development and apply for professional development programs. The value is in the co-production meetings, training, and grants, not in audience screenings.

The CHF 50,000 Open Doors Grant is one of the largest development grants available through a festival-affiliated program. Unlike many festival prizes tied to completed films, this grant funds ongoing development and production. The additional prizes (CNC, Arte Kino, EAVE) bring the total cash and in-kind award pool to over CHF 70,000 plus workshop scholarships.

The program's geographic focus rotates on a multi-year cycle. The current cycle (2025-2028) is dedicated to 42 African countries. Filmmakers from North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria) and South Africa are not eligible under the current cycle. The previous cycle covered regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Filmmakers should check the Open Doors website for the current focus region before applying.

The year-round ToolBox platform extends the program's value beyond the August residency. Alumni from all previous focus regions can use the ToolBox for ongoing networking, feedback on projects, and career guidance from the Open Doors team.

No submission fee is charged. This is unusual for a festival-affiliated program of this scale and makes Open Doors accessible to filmmakers regardless of their financial resources.

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, Latin America, and the Middle East over more than two decades, adapting its focus region every few years to concentrate resources where they are most needed.

The current four-year cycle (2025-2028) represents a structural shift: instead of rotating regions annually, Open Doors dedicates four consecutive editions to the African continent, allowing deeper engagement with 42 countries over multiple years. This extended focus enables the program to build sustained relationships with African film industries and track project development across multiple editions.

Open Doors has helped launch numerous international co-productions. Projects developed through the program have gone on to screen at major festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto, and have received distribution in multiple territories. The program's alumni network spans hundreds of filmmakers across the Global South.

The 2025 edition was the first year of the Africa focus. The 2026 edition is the second, with two more Africa-focused editions planned for 2027 and 2028.

See Also

For the parent festival, see Locarno Film Festival. For international co-production strategy, see Film Financing Guide. For festival submission budgeting, use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator. For independent filmmaking strategies, see Independent Filmmaking.