Locarno Open Doors awards top cash prizes to Ugandan and Somali-Qatari filmmakers
Ugandan director Talemwa Pius and Somali-Qatari filmmaker Mohammed Sheikh each secured the biggest monetary awards at Locarno’s Open Doors program.
The Open Doors initiative at the Locarno Film Festival awarded its two highest cash prizes to Ugandan filmmaker Talemwa Pius for the magical-realist fable “A Vineyard for a Lobster” and to Mohammed Sheikh, a director of Djibouti, Somalia and Qatar background, for “Accept My Plea for a Burial.” Pius’s story imagines a miraculous snowfall in a parched Ugandan village, turning the event into a critique of collective self-interest and colonial legacies, while Sheikh’s film depicts the death of a 12-year-old boy and the ensuing impasse between customary and religious justice.
Both works were praised for their cultural specificity and allegorical depth. The ceremony, announced on Aug. 10 at Locarno Pro, also distributed a range of other grants, including a French CNC development fund for Mozambique’s “Chapa 100,” an ArteKino International Award for Tanzania’s “Tempered Flowers,” and residencies for projects from Burkina Faso, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. The awards underscore Locarno’s focus on supporting diverse African cinema.
Why it matters
The story shows expanding global backing for African filmmakers and their culturally rooted narratives.
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