Locarno Open Doors unveils new year-round services including the ToolBox, an online learning platform dedicated to supporting filmmakers in South and Southeast Asia & Mongolia.
The core of Open Doors program, is usually taking place during the Locarno Film Festival (5-15 August), with a specific focus on regions, currently on South East Asia & Mongolia.
During the special edition of Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films, Open Doors will take place entirely online, always maintaining the objective of offering a platform dedicated to the international co-production, a workshop on the role of the creative producer and public screenings.
Sophie Bourdon, Head of Open Doors: “The extended offer of Open Doors is the result of a year of work, started ahead of the Covid-19 crisis but more relevant than ever in the current situation. It consists mostly in on-line services, which aim on the one hand to reinforce the support of the filmmakers and producers selected every year for our long-standing Hub, Lab and Screening activities in Locarno, but also to really open the doors to more talents in the focus regions. The regional creative voices are way more than those that can be highlighted by Open Doors or other international initiatives and many of them, especially the juniors, have professional needs that in most cases cannot be satisfied locally because of the lack of training opportunities, of a structured film industry and of international connections.
I’m confident that these new services will contribute to strengthening the regional independent film community and to fostering the access to the international scene for emerging creative and producing talents, who will be in the hands of a very experienced film professional, Zsuzsi Bánkuti, who has recently joined our team”.
From 2020, Open Doors is launching a 4-fold development strategy with new year-round activities, aiming to strengthen the collaboration with filmmakers and producers from both the previous and current focus regions: South and South East Asia & Mongolia.
ToolBox
Open Doors ToolBox is an online platform through which Open Doors will offer filmmakers and producers from the regions, including new talents, valuable types of resources to be accessed all year round and available to be consulted freely. The aim of this initiative is to provide a space and a resource center for directors and producers to acquire new forms of knowledge related to their craft and the development possibilities of their projects (for example, via international funds, development workshops or how to proceed after being selected for festivals) as well as to foster and maintain a broader community of fellow filmmakers that can sustain itself.
The platform will be accessible online to filmmakers and producers from South and South East Asia & Mongolia here from June 16th. It will stay open all year long and will further develop an online community, hosting a forum area available in a second phase by the end of 2020.
The ToolBox is built to be intertwined with the other new Open Doors activities: the Hotline, the Consultancy service and the annual Regional Forum.
The Hotline service is accessible all year-long and is available by writing to the Open Doors team to ask punctual questions and to receive feedbacks on specific aspects regarding current projects, the career as a film professional and to be followed through the different steps of the filmmaking process. All professionals from the regions, including new talents, may use the Hotline, whether or not they have already taken part in other Open Doors programs.
The Consultancy service offers remote (online) one-to-one professional guidance by international experts for film projects at different stages of creation. It’s dedicated to producers and filmmakers who seek support on specific challenges regarding one of the following topics: Scriptwriting, Co-production & financing strategy, Editing (video), International distribution (sales, festivals, …), Legal aspects & contracts.
The Consultancy program is opening 3 calls for entries per year, selecting around 8 projects per call. The next round of submissions will be open from June 22nd until June 24th.
The annual Regional Forum will be held in the region and open to every film professional originally from the countries that Open Doors has been focusing on since 2016. It will be built on learning, exchanging experiences and allowing filmmakers to meet and get to know each other. The program will include panels, screenings and meetings with international and regional key film industry professionals.
Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Open Doors Community Coordinator: “I'm thrilled to join the Open Doors team and develop these activities further, giving my best knowledge and experience to the filmmakers and producers from the regions. It is a very exciting time for Asia and we are working towards building a sustainable community which can pass on this acquaintance after the Open Doors period.”
Open Doors is made possible by the collaboration of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Partner, which, even in during this global crisis, intends to continue making concrete contributions to the development of film industries in these areas.
Open Doors Community Coordinator: Zsuzsi Bánkuti
Open Doors Community Junior Manager: Clara Kiskanc
Contact: opendoors@locarnofestival.ch
