Presentation

With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, for the last seven years the Open Doors section has worked to highlight filmmakers and films from countries whose cinema is still developing, and is committed to enabling them to find coproduction partners for their new projects.

This initiative, focusing on a different region every year, operates in two modes. Open Doors Factory brings professionals from the chosen region together with potential partners, mostly from Europe, to foster support for projects that would otherwise be difficult to make. Every year, following a call for submissions, the Festival selects a dozen new projects from the chosen region. At the end of the workshop, the winning projects receive either development or production support. For the public audience, the Open Doors Screenings present a selection of key films from the national cinemas of the chosen region.

Since its inception, Open Doors has showcased projects from Cuba and Argentina, countries in the Mekong, the Maghreb, South-East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), the Near and Middle East (Mashrek), Latin America, Greater China and, in 2010, central Asia.

Open Doors Team
Martina Malacrida, Head of Open Doors
Nathalie Soldini, Coordinator

Selection Committee:
Olivier Père, Artistic Director of the Locarno Festival
Martina Malacrida, Head of Open Doors
Joël Chapron, Festival's correspondent for central Asia, Russia and Eastern European Countries
Chicca Bergonzi, External Consultant

Contact: opendoors@pardo.ch