For the third year in a row, Locarno Pro has hosted its Open Doors programme with a focus on under-represented countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Cineuropa takes a closer look at four of the projects being showcased this year.

UFOs in the Tropic – Rob Mendoza (Ecuador)
Raul, a lonely orchid grower in the tropical mountains, spreads a warning message he received after making contact with an enigmatic UFO, but the power of the mining company and the homophobia of the people both threaten his mission. This is the logline of the new queer sci-fi movie being produced by Isabel Carrasco for La República Invisible.

“In the journey we have embarked on, it is crucial for the project to be part of spaces like Open Doors. Firstly, for the type of experience and professional growth it offers, for Rob [Mendoza] and me, as a creative duo. Secondly, because this space is essential for finding European producers interested in telling queer stories that explore cinematic genres like fantasy and science fiction, but especially those who share the same concerns about the environment and the fight against transnational powers that seek to impose brutal capitalism on pristine nature,” Carrasco tells us.

El único tiempo – Paz Encina (Paraguay/Mexico/Germany)
The story, helmed by the director of the IFFR 2022 winner EAMI [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], is set in Paso de Patria, Argentina, near the border with Paraguay. The premise sees Máximo, the youngest son, disappear at the age of 22. Lorenza and Pedro, both in their seventies, wait. They wait for the dictatorship to end, they wait for news of Máximo, they wait for the phone to ring and give them some information about their son, and they wait for letters bringing news from Paraguay. Their children also wait. Of all of the waits endured by this family, one comes to an end: one morning, a coup overthrows the dictator Stroessner, and freedom finally arrives. Thus, the family must decide what to do next, now that freedom is here.

“The project is at an early stage of development. At Locarno, we would like to start a conversation with potential sales agents in order to work together at a later stage,” says Gabriela Sabaté, who is producing with Julio Chavezmontes for Paraguay’s Sabaté Films and Mexico’s PIANO. Germany’s Black Forest Films is attached as the co-producer. The picture’s budget is €745,000.

Caribbean Fever by Diego A Murillo

Caribbean Fever – Diego A Murillo (Venezuela/Colombia)
“Our film seeks to connect vampirism with fragments of Venezuelan history and identity by using this creature's nature as a mirror to reimagine both the elements of the human condition and ourselves as parts of this particular geography,” Murillo tells Cineuropa.

“It is a multi-genre travelogue, a tale in constant movement. Embracing body horror and eroticism, and propelled by a romance-cum-investigation, it jumps from the cold winter of Queens, NY, to the evergreen tropics of Caracas, Venezuela, re-examining historical events in the South Caribbean city as its protagonist seeks out a cure to her cursed nature,” he adds.

Speaking about his expectations for the team’s participation in Open Doors, Murillo says: “We hope to find or get in close contact with European co-producers – from territories such as France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Norway or Germany – who want to dive into this ambitious project with us to enhance its opportunities, as well as winning much-needed cash awards so as to keep on developing the film.”

The feature is being produced by Richard Nieto Fernández for Venezuela’s Maldito Fantasma, and is co-produced by Christian Mejía Carrascal for Colombia’s Oveja Eléctrica.

Her Lightness by Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo

Her Lightness – Rosa María Rodríguez Pupo (Cuba/Mexico/Colombia)
The plot follows 42-year-old Nora, who lies and says she is pregnant, thus abandoning her medical treatment for cancer. To make her journey to freedom, she must let go of the ties that make her a submissive “mirror woman”, enabling her to float and be as light as she has always wanted to be. Her decision is incomprehensible but will light up the path for her loved ones, too.

“Her Lightness is the story of my family genetics, my women and my dead. It’s the story of my dying country. It’s the story of the journey towards death of a woman who would prefer to say she’s pregnant to make an excuse for a cancer eating away at her, rather than to once again go through an obsolete procedure that takes away whatever humanity and dignity dwells within you, leaving your loved ones enveloped in an everlasting stupor of pain. It remains like a tattoo, like the smell of poor-quality formaldehyde. In a Cuba devastated by neglect and shortages, Nora isn’t telling an outrageous lie to die with dignity; it’s just that reality is not enough for her,” the director tells us.

“We intend to include a European co-producer, possibly a French or a German one. Hence, we could attempt to access the World Cinema Fund or Aide aux cinémas du monde. We’d still pursue potential regional funds and others that Cuba could apply for, such as Visions Sud Est. We plan to shoot during the second semester of 2025,” producer Armando Capó reveals.

“Her Lightness is a necessary film because it brings back a female approach to Cuban cinema in a stagnant, patriarchal society. This is a country that has been portrayed through grand discourses of its society being immersed in a socialist revolution while failing to have a woman premiere a second fiction film until this year, 2024. It’s deteriorating, torn apart by migration and poverty,” he underscores. “Then, here, the tragedy of a woman who needs to exert her individual freedom to die overpowers the bureaucracy, culture and society. It is also an intimate and universal story, addressing issues such as motherhood, illness and death. Yet it is also a film that subtly confronts the system – not as a condemnation, but as a courageous form of defiance.”

Her Lightness has been granted development backing by the Cuban Film Fund. Producing are GatoRosafilms (Cuba), Martfilms (Mexico) and Ciudad lunar (Colombia), in co-production with Laima (Colombia) and Associated Production Vedado Films (Cuba).