Locarno's vast open-space screening area the Piazza Grande will welcome several current Hollywood films including J.J. Abrams' "Super 8," Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis comedy "Friends With Benefits" and "Cowboys & Aliens."
Reto Albertalli/AFP/Getty ImagesROME — The Locarno Film Festival said Monday that its Open Doors co-production lab will return to Africa for the second time in three years in its next edition, focusing on films from sub-Saharan Africa in 2014.
The 12-year-old edition of the Open Doors initiative last focused on sub-Sahara Africa in 2012, giving its support to the Francophone countries in the region. Now it will return and pick a dozen film projects from the 25 countries not eligible last time around.
Last year, Open Doors focuses on the South Caucasus. Before that it was open to projects from India in 2011, Central Asia in 2010 and greater China in 2009.
Open Doors offers technical and marketing support to the dozen finalists — to be announced in April — as well as three cash awards worth up to $50,000 for the projects deemed to be the most promising.
Open Doors take place during the 67-year-old Locarno festival, running Aug. 9-12. The full festival runs August 6-16.
Projects from Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are eligible to compete for sports in Open Doors in 2014, with the application process open as of Monday.
Twitter: @ErcJLyman
