LOCARNO, Switzerland — Paraguayan Paz Encina (“Eami”) and three feature film debutants – Enrique Bautista from El Salvador, Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo from Cuba and Fernando Mendoza from Peru – shared the top prize at this year’s Locarno Open Doors, with Encina and Bautista receiving the lion’s share of the 50,000 Swiss Francs ($58,000) cash prize.
The grant was sponsored by Visions Sud Est and the city of Bellinzona. The winners – Encina’s “The Unique Time,” Bautista’s “Salvation,” Rodriguez’s “Her Lightness” and Mendoza’s “The Return of the Last Mochica Warrior” – were announced Tuesday at the Swiss Festival, as Open Doors’ three-year focus on smaller markets in Latin America and the Caribbean came to a close.
Open Doors’ lead partner, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), announced on Monday that the co-production and talent development program will focus on underrepresented communities in Africa over the next four years.
Some Open Doors 2024 winners are testament to the rise of genre-bending social cinema in Latin America. El Salvador’s “Salvation,” which also won a BR Lab Award, is “a thriller with the spirit of found-footage horror,” says Bautista, as a nurse realizes that an old dying patient is the same man who raped her during El Salvador’s civil war. Mendoza calls “Return” the first gamer film in Peru. Rob Mendoza’s “UFOs in the Tropics,” which won a CNC development grant and the Moulin d’Andé-CECI Award, is considered Ecuadorian queer sci-fi.
The legacy of the past weighs on the winners. A three-time winner that also received ArteKino International and Sørfond awards, The Unique Time, for example, shows a family – Lorenza (70), Pedro (73) and their children – settled in Argentina, just across the river from Paraguay, waiting for news from Paraguay and Máximo, their youngest son, who was 22 when he disappeared.
In Rodríguez’s “Her Lightness,” Nora is terminally ill with cancer and fights against the outdated patriarchy because she is unable to control her life or at least determine how she dies.
The unique time
Courtesy of Sabate Films
“A mix of stories from our ancestors and video game culture,” says Mendoza. In “Return,” a player robs the graves of his ancestors to earn money in internet cafes until he is contacted by the spirit of an ancient Peruvian warrior.
The nurse in “Salvation” lives partly in the present and partly in the past and is trapped by trauma. This allows Bautista to move back and forth between the two time periods.
Above all, the winners underline the ability of their directors to channel deeply felt emotions into very personal yet moving dramas.
“This intimate project is a love letter to the unacknowledged pain of my homeland,” says Bautista.
“I am a Paraguayan and a woman, I spent my childhood and youth during a dictatorship, my father was an oppositionist, was imprisoned, exiled and controlled for many years. These are things that have had a profound impact on my life,” says Encina. Diversity.
“Her Lightness” is the story of my family genes, my women and my dead. “I want to represent imperfection, hereditary disease, the right to die as we want and the scars,” says Rodríguez.
“Write what you know,” as the saying goes. Perhaps it would be better to say, “Write what you feel.”
As further recognition, the Tabakalera-San Sebastian Film Festival offers Luis Flores Alvarenga a residency at Open Doors at the Tabakalera, one of Spain’s most important development programs, with “The Lost Boys.” The film is about three children from the indigenous groups Garifuna, Lenca and Tolupán who meet in an orphanage.
Yamila Morrero (“Azul Pandora”, “El Proyecto”, “Villa Rosa”), one of Cuba’s oldest documentary film producers, received a Rotterdam Lab Award.
The winner of the prestigious OIF-ACP-EU award was “A Farewell to Lola” by Ivan De Lara from the Dominican Republic, a story of friendship between a disillusioned trumpet professor and his successful and privileged musician friend, which “deconstructs the idea of success”, according to Lara.
Open Doors Africa, 2025-28
Open Doors’ upcoming Africa focus is an exciting prospect. The Marrakech Atlas Workshops were rated last year as one of the highest quality development and co-production centres in the world, largely driven by talent from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan countries. Open Doors can give new impetus to the building of a cinema with high artistic ambitions and often burning political statements on the continent.
“Art and culture are engines for social change and creativity and contribute to social cohesion and peace. They are therefore indispensable for social progress,” said Patrizia Danzi, Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, on Monday evening on the Piazza Grande in Locarno.
“This transition is not just about changing our focus, but also about expanding our work,” said Zsuzsi Bánkuti, director of Open Doors.
“We plan to foster strong cooperation between Latin America, the Caribbean and the African continent, ensuring that the links of previous years continue while creating new ones. Building on this year’s focus on cooperation, our goal is to create an interconnected and thriving network that benefits all regions,” she added.
Winner of the Locarno Open Doors 2024
Open Doors Scholarship
A total of 50,000 CHF (54,500 $), sponsored by Visions Sud Est (with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), the City of Bellinzona and Open Doors.
“Salvation,” (Ernesto Bautista, El Salvador, Mexico)
A grant of 20,000 CHF (23,200 $)
Lead Producer: Melissa Guevara (Burn and Die Films)
Jury statement: “For a proposal that represents often overlooked post-war processes, with a very strong artistic approach, a non-chronological narrative and a poetic and intimate vision that renews the idea of the genre.”
“The unique time”, (Paz Encina, Paraguay, Mexico, Germany)
A grant of 20,000 CHF (23,200 $)
Produced by Gabriela Sabaté (Sabaté Films) and Julio Chavezmontes (piano)
The jury’s statement: “For a very convincing project and a filmmaker with a clear voice and dedication, we would like to award a film that deals sensitively with the themes of exile and the longing for the return of the disappeared.”
“Your lightness”, (Rosa María Rodriguez, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia)
A grant of 5,000 CHF (5,800 USD)
Produced by Armando Capó Ramos (GatoRosafilms), Martha Orozco (Martfilms) and Cristina Gallego (Ciudad Lunar)
Jury statement: “For a sensitive, intimate approach to the question of freedom of choice in the face of life and death from a woman’s perspective in a raw, realistic film.”
“The Return of the Last Mochica Warrior”, (Fernando Mendoza, Peru)
A grant of 5,000 CHF (5,800 USD)
Jury statement: “This film convinced the jury above all with its innovative mix of cultural heritage, history and modern video games, set in a region that is often overlooked in the country.”
CNC development scholarship
“UFOs in the Tropics”, (Rob Mendoza, Ecuador)
€8,000 ($9,505) for development provided by the French state film agency CNC
Produced by Isabel Carrasco at Ecuador’s Cinema Verano
International ArteKino Prize
€6,000 ($6,540) for development through the online festival ArteKino, supported by Arte France Cinema
“The unique time”
PARTNER AWARDS
Sørfond Prize
Participation of the project, including travel and accommodation, in a pitching event in November organized by Sørfond, a fund run by the Norwegian Film Institute that provides grants to productions from less privileged countries.
“The unique time”
Residence Prize of the Tabakalera-San Sebastian Film Festival
A stay at the Tabakalera in San Sebastián and participation in the sector activities of the San Sebastián Festival, in collaboration with the Tabakalera International Cultural Center and the San Sebastián Festival.
Luis Flores AlvarengaHonduras, participant in the Open Doors Producers Lab
“Open Doors BR Lab” award
Participation in the BR Lab project development workshop in São Paulo in October, travel and accommodation will be covered by the BR Lab.
“Salvation”
Open day Moulin d’Andé-CECI Prize
A writing residency for the director of a first or second feature film project in development, with accommodation provided and a contribution to travel expenses, provided by the Moulin d’Andé cultural centre in Normandy, the CECI international organisation supporting sustainable and inclusive development, and the Locarno Film Festival.
Rob Mendoza, (“UFOs in the Tropics”, Ecuador)
Rotterdam Lab Award
Participation in the next Rotterdam Film Festival Lab, including accommodation covered by the festival and a contribution to the travel costs of the Locarno Film Festival.
Yamila MarreroCrisálida Productions, Cuba
Open Doors World Cinema Fund Audience Strategy Award
The Berlinale World Cinema Fund offers a special, tailor-made program that closely supports the development of an audience engagement strategy.
“The Return of the Last Mochica Warrior”
OIF-ACP-EU Open Doors Award
Consultancy for up to 18 months in terms of script/treatment analysis, story editing and film dossier polishing based on the specific requirements of the awarded project. Offered by the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) for French speakers.
“A farewell to Lola,” (Ivan De Lara, Dominican Republic)
