'Cotton Queen'

Source: Frida Marzouk/Strange Bird

‘Cotton Queen’

Suzannah Mirghani’s Cotton Queen, Achille Ronaimou’s Diya and Ique Langa’s The Prophet are among eight features that will screen as part of Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors Screening programme, which is focused on filmmakers from the African continent.

Open Doors Screening will also host the world premiere of Benin filmmaker Aymar Esse’s La Kora De Mon Père, a documentary which sees the director journey back to his roots, seeking to reconnect with his father’s musical heritage.

Sudanese Suzannah Mirghani’s debut feature Cotton Queen premiered last year in Venice’s Critics’ Week, and recently won the best feature film prize at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

Chad filmmaker Ronaimou’s Diya made its world premiere as part of Toronto’s Centrepiece programme last year, while Mozambique director Langa’s The Prophet debuted earlier this year at Rotterdam.

Open Doors Screenings also includes five short films, whose directors are invited to participate in the Open Doors Directors training and networking programme.

Open Doors is Locarno’s programme to support filmmakers from underrepresented regions and countries where cinema as a form of expression is at risk, and is currently focused on filmmakers from Africa for a four-year cycle. It was founded together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and is supported by the Wyss Academy for Nature and Fondation Botnar.

Open Doors Screenings programmers Delphine Jeanneret and Ibee Ndaw said: “Open Doors Screenings bring together 13 films from 12 African countries, reflecting a rich diversity of languages, beliefs and imaginations. The selection weaves together fiction, documentaries and hybrid works into a constellation of perspectives. It is an invitation to step into these films as if they were open spaces: places for listening, for exchange, and for encounter.”

Locarno’s full programme will be announced on July 9. The festival runs August 5 to 15.

Open Doors Screenings

Features

  • Barni dir. Mohammed Sheikh (Som)
  • Catcher (Wrestlers) dir. Derhwa Kasunzu (Burk Faso-Fr Met-DRC)
  • Cotton Queen dir. Suzannah Mirghani (Ger-Fr-Pal-Egy-Qatar-Saudi-Sudan)
  • Crocodile dir. The Critics, Pietra Brettkelly (NZ-Nigeria)
  • Diya dir. Achille Ronaimou (Chad-Ger-Fr-Ivory Coast)
  • Katanga La Danse Des Scorpions dir. Dani Kouyaté (Burk Faso)
  • La Kora De Mon Père (My Father’s Kora) dir. Ayeman Aymar Esse (Benin-Switz-Ger)
  • O Profeta (The Prophet) dir. Ique Langa (Moz-Qatar-S.Africa)

 

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