Open Doors’ international co-production workshop (5-10 August) returns to Locarno Pro with projects hailing from Uganda, Djibouti, Somalia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana. The selection ranges from political allegory and musical biography to surreal fiction and hybrid documentary, with several teams arriving with newly updated financing and production plans.

A Vineyard for a Lobster – Talemwa Pius (Uganda)
According to an updated project sheet supplied to Cineuropa by producer Emmanuel Gashumba, Pius’s 120-minute fiction feature is being developed through Gripmagic Uganda, with principal photography provisionally planned for March 2029.

When inexplicable snow blankets drought-stricken Rukumba, a failed jacket trader, a disgraced preacher and a timid local chairman become entangled with British envoys offering independence in exchange for access to the phenomenon. The political allegory is budgeted at €1.344 million, with no financing or partners yet confirmed. The team is seeking development and production finance, international co-production, distribution support and technical collaboration capable of combining practical snowfall, visual effects and suitable locations.

Baryo Aas Isa Gudoon (Accept My Plea for Burial) by Mohammed Sheikh

Baryo Aas Isa Gudoon (Accept My Plea for Burial) – Mohammed Sheikh (Djibouti/Somalia/Qatar)
In a remote Somali pastoral village, two 12-year-old boys’ playful rivalry turns tragic when one falls to his death. With no reliable witness, grief becomes accusation, and the boy’s mother refuses burial without justice, forcing customary law, religious counsel and a divided community towards an impossible resolution.

Sheikh’s 100-minute social thriller is being staged by Kadir Harbi for Aleel Films. The €440,000 project is in writing and development, with €154,000 secured and principal photography planned for March 2027. Following an award at Aflamuna Connection 2026, the team is seeking an African, Arab or European co-producer, further financing and international-circulation partners.

Chapa 100 by Ique Langa

Chapa 100 – Ique Langa (Mozambique/Portugal)
Langa’s €1.1 million urban surrealist romance follows an elderly Maputo flower seller whose spirit becomes bound to the minibus that killed him, allowing traces of his love to reach the woman he left behind.

Produced by Lara Sousa for Kulunga Filmes with Pedro Borges of Midas Filmes, the project has advanced into a later development stage. Better Filmes’ Sousa Domingos and Donkey Films’ Mo Harawe are now attached as associate producers, while Mostafa El Kashef will serve as cinematographer. It has received the Cultiv’Art/Expertise France Development Grant and the Atlas Workshops Development Prize. Following Langa’s seven-week MacDowell Fellowship, the team is preparing for principal photography during the Mozambican winter, and seeking partners for financing, co-production and international reach.

I Live in V.I. by Ugochukwu Azuya

I Live in V.I. – Ugochukwu Azuya (Nigeria)
Florence leaves Akwa Ibom for a hospitality job in Lagos, but grief, an exhausting commute and precarious housing push her to squat inside an abandoned government construction site near wealthy Victoria Island. To conceal the truth from colleagues, she invents a glamorous life with a once-famous aunt.

Azuya’s surreal social-class satire is being produced by Olubunmi Ogunsola for Ensemble. The 85-minute English-, Yoruba-, Pidgin- and Igbo-language feature is in writing and development, with an estimated €950,000 budget and principal photography planned for October 2027.

The Ones with the Tempered Flowers by Neema Ngelime

The Ones with the Tempered Flowers – Neema Ngelime (Tanzania/Kenya)
Ngelime turns the camera on herself in a participatory, performative essay documentary about fibroids, fertility, religion and the political expectations imposed on women’s bodies. Constructed archives, vérité material, family performances, stop-motion and visual effects will trace the filmmaker’s past, present and imagined future.

Ivy Kiru is producing through LBx Africa and AQ Pictures. The 75-minute project is in late development, with €90,000 of its €400,000 budget secured. Principal photography is planned for July 2027, and the team is seeking European broadcasters and auteur-minded co-producers, particularly for production and post-production collaboration.

Too Much Music by Aseye Fiagbe

Too Much Music – Aseye Fiagbe (Ghana)
Fiagbe’s 75-minute documentary revisits the life of Kiki Gyan, the Ghanaian keyboard prodigy who joined Afro-rock pioneers Osibisa as a teenager and later helped shape African disco and funk across London, Lagos and New York. Archival material and testimony from family and collaborators will challenge the reduction of his legacy to addiction and early death.

The project is in development, with €88,000 of its €648,000 budget secured and principal photography planned for February 2027. Fiagbe is looking for co-producers, financiers, broadcasters, distributors and archival-research partners able to support an internationally accessible film without “sanding away its Ghanaian heart”.