Locarno Open Doors Africa 2026 Unveils Expanded Lineup of African Cinema Projects]
Open Doors, the Locarno Film Festival’s co-production platform and talent development program for filmmakers from equity-seeking communities and high-risk regions, announced its second edition lineup focused on African cinema, revealing selected projects and producers for 2026 on Monday.
The program will feature “a bold and diverse slate of voices from across the African continent,” bringing together filmmakers working in fiction, documentary, and animation from over 10 countries. Running August 5-10, Open Doors offers hands-on training, mentoring, and networking opportunities alongside public screenings and events during the Locarno Film Festival and its industry arm, Locarno Pro.
This year’s Open Doors Projects showcase includes six first and second features in development, spanning portraits of music and memory to explorations of womanhood, urban life, and colonial legacies. The Open Doors Producers program supports six participants in building sustainable careers and cross-border networks, while the Open Doors Directors selection brings together five filmmakers for talks, workshops, and industry networking, with their short films featured in the Open Doors Screenings.
“We’re looking to affirm the richness of storytelling across the continent, with artistic voices and creative entrepreneurs strongly dedicated to meeting their audiences at home, within their diasporas, and internationally,” said Yanis Gaye, head of studies at Open Doors. “Our program is designed to foster synergies—within our cohort, between participants and Open Doors alumni from other regions, and through encounters in Locarno—to create concrete, actionable interactions. African film ecosystems and their practitioners offer the industry an opportunity to globally rethink co-production practices, audience building strategies, and cinema economics.”
Zsuzsi Bánkuti, head of Open Doors, added: “With this selection, we reaffirm our belief that the future of cinema depends on who gets to make it and how. I hope to amplify female voices—both behind the camera and in producer roles. Gender parity in our industry must be lived, not just strived for.”
The selection emphasizes collaborative filmmaking, with Bánkuti noting, “Cinema is never a solo act. Films are made by many hands, many minds, many stories. Building our industry on this truth—horizontal collaboration, genuine equality—makes our cinema richer and more honest.”
On August 10, a jury of industry professionals will award financial and in-kind prizes. New this year, EAVE and the Luxembourg Film Fund will offer a €4,000 scholarship for the EAVE Marketing Workshop, while African Film Press presents the AFP Critics Prize: $500 cash, a certificate, and editorial coverage across Learning, Sinema Focus, and What Kept Me Up.
2026 Open Doors Projects
Aseye Fiagbe (Ghana) directs and produces Too Much Music, a documentary portrait of Ghanaian keyboard prodigy Kiki Gyan.
Mozambique and South Africa collaborate on Plate 100, “an urban, surrealist love story” directed by Ique Langa, whose feature The Prophet screened in the Tiger Competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Produced by Lara Sousa of Kulunga Filmes.
Nigerian director Ugochukwu Azuya and producer Olubunmi Ogunsola of Ensemble present I Live in V.I, “a sharp social satire about urban space and gentrification.”
Somalia and Djibouti filmmaker Mohammed Sheikh and producer Kadir Harbi Hassan of Aleel Films bring the fiction project Accept My Plea for Burial (Pray for My Funeral), exploring tradition and justice tensions in a rural community.
Tanzania and Kenya collaborate on The Ones With the Tempered Flowers, an experimental documentary weaving themes of womanhood and motherhood, directed by Neema Ngelime and produced by Ivy Kiru of AQ Pictures (LBx Africa), who previously participated in La Fabrique Cinéma at Cannes with Strong Wind.
Uganda’s Talemwa Pius directs A Vineyard for A Lobster, produced by Gashumba Emmanuel of Gripmagic Uganda Limited, using a snow-covered landscape to examine colonialism’s enduring shadows.
Open Doors Producers
Mamounata Nikiema of Pilumpiku Production (Burkina Faso), honored at FESPACO 2021.
Natasha Craveiro of Cabo Verde’s Korikaxoru Films, producer of Omi Nobu, featured in Open Doors Screenings 2025.
Adja Mariam Mahre Soro of Ivory Coast leads Studio Kä, an Abidjan-based animation studio.
David Ikeata of Nigeria’s Vox Cinematic Films, co-producer of Kazakh-Nigerian film Man Plenty (2024).
Rua Osman of Sudan’s Helomur Picture, with festival credits including You Will Die at Twenty (Venice 2019) and Goodbye Julia (Cannes 2023).
Zimbabwe’s Tapiwa Chipfupa of Ambidextrous Pictures, EAVE alumn and founder of AVEL mentorship program.
Open Doors Directors
Fagamou Fama Ndiaye (Senegal)
Rediet Haddis Yalew (Ethiopia)
Pocas Pascoal (Angola)
Judith Nini Kibinge (Kenya)
Ariel Añez (Mozambique)
