India to be focus country at Locarno Film Festival

India and its film industry will be the prime focus of the upcoming 64th edition of the prestigious Locarno International film festival.

'Open Doors', the co-production lab of the Swiss festival will focus on India, helping independent filmmakers find new opportunities, said it's artistic director Olivier Pere, and Nadia Dresti, head of Locarno's Industry Office in a statement.

During the last two editions of the Locarno Festival, a total of 12 Indian screenwriters have participated, and been able to present their work-in-progress to a range of film professionals from all over the world.

Open Doors 2011 is the result of two-year collaboration with the Film Bazaar India/Goa Festival's Screenwriters' Lab and National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

"Everybody knows that India outpaces the world in film production, releasing around 1,300 films every year. But these figures can be misleading. The strength of commercial production, concentrated in the four main linguistic regions, should not make us lose sight of the many talented filmmakers across the country who are finding it very hard to express themselves through independent circuits. The next edition of Open Doors will give voice to those artists," said Pere.

Three Indian experts will work with the Festival on the 'Open Doors' 2011 program, Sunil Doshi, Meenakshi Shedde and Uma Da Cunha.

The main objective of 'Open Doors' is to assist the directors and producers of the selected projects to find co-production partners, particularly in Europe, and to complete their films.

The final short-listed applicants, will be invited to participate in the co-production lab to take place during the 64th edition of the Festival del film Locarno, beginning from August 3-13 August, next year.