email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

LOCARNO 2020 Locarno Pro

Locarno announces the selections for its Open Doors Hub and Lab

by 

- A total of 8 projects and 9 producers hailing from Southeast Asia will participate in the specialised platform that is moving online this year

Locarno announces the selections for its Open Doors Hub and Lab
Locarno's Open Doors 2020 participants

For its 2020 edition, the Locarno Film Festival is focusing on the future of films, and its Open Doors industry programme has, for the past 18 years, been on the front line of discovering new voices and supporting emerging filmmakers from countries in the southern and eastern regions of the world. For the upcoming edition of Open Doors, which will be held during the first week of Locarno 2020, from 6-11 August, eight projects and nine producers from Southeast Asia will be in the spotlight and will be able to introduce themselves to the international industry.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

More precisely, the projects participating in the Open Doors Hub, the platform for international co-productions, and the creative producers partaking in the Open Doors Lab training programme hail from the Southeast Asian countries of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mongolia. According to Locarno, the participating filmmakers are in search of a new identity that can be created by reconciling their past and traditions with the current challenges that each of their societies has been facing amidst the recent, rapid changes. It should also be noted that the selection includes a higher number of female professionals who are working as either directors or producers.

Sophie Bourdon, head of Open Doors and deputy head of Locarno Pro, offers her insight: “With the presentation of new full-length films of fiction and animation (an absolute first for Open Doors, with Filipino director Avid Liongoren), it brings together filmmakers who are in accordance with the festival’s free and responsible spirit. These will include some artists who are recognised on the international film scene, such as Mouly Surya from Indonesia (2017 Directors’ Fortnight, with Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Anucha Boonyawatana from Thailand (Malila: The Farewell Flower, 2017 Busan International Film Festival and shown at Open Door Screenings in 2019), and Isabel Sandoval, from the Philippines, who presented her first feature film, Señorita, at the 2011 Locarno Film Festival, in the Filmmakers of the Present competition. There will also be promising young talents, discovered by the Open Doors section in recent years, such as Aung Phyoe from Burma (Cobalt Blue, Pardi di Domani 2019), Pham Thien An from Vietnam (Stay Awake, Be Ready, Directors’ Fortnight and Open Doors Screenings 2019), and Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir from Mongolia (Open Doors Lab 2019).”

Also, as part of Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films, screenings of works from countries that are the focus of Open Doors will be accessible to everyone from 5-15 August.

The complete selection of Locarno 2020 Open Doors is as follows:

Open Doors Hub

Fruit Gathering Aung Phyoe (Myanmar/France/Czech Republic)
The GodmothersAnucha Boonyawatana (Thailand/USA)
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Pham Thien An (Vietnam/Singapore/France)
Oasis of NowChee Sum Chia (Malaysia)
This City is a BattlefieldMouly Surya (Indonesia)
Tropical GothicIsabel Sandoval (Philippines)
ZeLkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (Mongolia/France)
Zsa Zsa Zatumnah vs the Amazonistas of Planet XAvid Liongoren (Philippines/France)

Open Doors Lab

Darung Mony (Studio4, Cambodia)
Lomorpich Rithy (PlerngKob, Cambodia)
Vannaphone Sitthirath (Lao New Wave Cinema Productions, Laos)
Choo Mun Bel (Sixtymac Production, Malaysia)
Lamin Oo (Tagu Films, Myanmar)
Uran Sainbileg (IFI Production, Mongolia)
Supatcha Thipsena (Mobile Lab Project, Thailand)
Kyle Nieva (Screen Asia, Philippines)
Nguyen Luong Hang (EAST Films, Vietnam)

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy