Magic realist love story “Chapa 100,” absurdist political allegory “A Vineyard for a Lobster” and cross-continental queer drama “Hibiscus by the River” look like some of the potential standouts at Locarno’s talent-deep, wide-ranging 2026 Africa-focused Open Doors, unspooling on-site at Locarno over Aug. 5-10.
Winner of a 2025 Atlas Workshops Development Award no less, moving from observational social realism to – literally – flowering magical realism, love story “Chapa 100” is set in Mozambique capital Maputo. It marks scribe-helmer Ique Langa’s follow-up to “The Prophet,” a 2026 IFF Rotterdam main competition entry.
Beginning with an impossible snowfall blanketing a drought-ridden Ugandan village, “A Vineyard for a Lobster” signals the feature debut of Ugandan Talemwa Pius, a New York Film Academy alum.
Now in advanced development, “Hibiscus in the River” is one of five projects brought to market at Locarno by David Ikeata at Vox Cinematic Films, a burgeoning force on Nigeria’s new film scene.
Screenings this year at Open Doors pack a particularly powerful punch taking in, for example, Suzannah Mirghani’s Venice Critics’ Week premiere “Cotton Queen,” a Thessaloniki’s best film and Doha Audience Award winner and the first feature-length fiction film from Sudan that is written and directed by a woman.
