© Festival del film Locarno
Today saw the announcement of the awards for the Open Doors Co-production Lab, organized with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
The 2015 session of Open Doors is devoted to films from the four Maghreb countries Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia. The Co-production Lab (August 8 – 11) aims to bring together the finalist directors and producers with potential partners, in order to facilitate obtaining the financial support needed for completing the projects. In addition, prizes are awarded by the Open Doors Jury that serve to support the production (allocated to the production company) and for development (allocated to the filmmakers).
The Open Doors jury decided to award the following prizes:
Open Doors Grant (50,000 CHF)
This award is financed by the Open Doors initiative in collaboration with the Municipality of Bellinzona and the Swiss production support fund Visions Sud Est, funded by the SDC:
Production Grant (30'000 CHF)
LE FORT DES FOUS by Narimane Mari, Algeria
Development Grant (10'000 CHF)
ALLER SIMPLE by Nadia Raïs, Tunisia
Development Grant (10'000 CHF)
PAGAN MAGIC by Fyzal Boulifa, Morocco / France
ICAM Prize (20’000 EUR)
A contribution to development, offered by ICAM (Investing in Culture & Art in the South Mediterranean), a new initiative funded by the European Union (Programme Med Culture).
SAINT INCONNU by Alaa Eddine Aljem, Morocco
CNC Prize (10,000 EUR)
EN ATTENDANT LES HIRONDELLES by Karim Moussaoui, Algeria
ARTE International Open Doors Prize (6,000 EUR)
THE COLONEL’S STRAY DOGS by Khalid Shamis, Libya / South Africa
MAD Solutions Prize
MAD Solutions awards a project with a distribution deal comprising funding for PR, marketing, print and publicity costs.
Alaa Karkouti, Co-Founder/Managing Partner/Film Analyst: «Due to the number of strong projects in the Open Doors section, we decided to extend our MAD distribution award to two projects. We believe the Maghreb countries have rich ideas and content, which deserve a region-wide release across the Arab world.»
L’AMOUR DES HOMMES by Mehdi Ben Attia, Tunisia / France
RUQYA by Yanis Koussim, Algeria / France
The Open Doors Screenings program that presents a selection of 22 films from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, will continue through to the end of the Festival.
Open Doors is organized in close collaboration with the Festival's Industry Office and with support from the following partners: ACE (Ateliers du cinéma européen), EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), Producers Network Marché du Film (Cannes Festival) and TorinoFilmLab. The Festival also draws on the expertise of Alex Moussa Sawadogo, a specialist in African cinema and director of the festival Afrikamera in Berlin.
