Focused on projects, producers and pics from smaller territories in Latin America, Locarno’s 2023 Open Doors showcase suggested a revolution is working through Latin America filmmaking. This year’s titles explore other facets of this next generation makeover. Four takes on the 2024 line-up: The Genre Revolution Many younger Latin American filmmakers are embracing genre.
But they’re not turning out standard shlockfests. Some are genre blending. At Open Doors Projects Lab, “Fiebre Caribe, for instance” is “a multi-genre travelog: a Latin-American vampire drama splashed with culture-shock comedic relief moments, a lost romance investigation, a body horror tale, and for a moment, an archive-historical reimagining,” says director Diego Andrés Murillo.
Others are genre bending. “The project’s voice – a queer, gen-z, female auteur – has reimagined a somewhat familiar horror narrative with tropical heat and cool,” producer Rob Maylor, at Mental Telepathy Pictures, says of “The Periphery,” another Hub title. The Rise of Women Producers Open Doors will showcase “The Unique Time,” the latest project by Paz Encina, one of the highest profile Latin American directors featured at Locarno this year, a 2022 Rotterdam top Tiger Award winner for “Eami,” at this year’s Open Doors Screenings.
In gender terms, at the Projects Hub, she remains an exception, however: Five of its eight titles are directed by men. Seven of the nine figures featured at Open Door.