Locarno Open Doors: Talemwa Pius’ ‘A Vineyard for a Lobster’ and Mohammed Sheikh’s ‘Accept My Plea for a Burial’ Win Top Prizes at Festival’s Africa Industry Focus

Ugandan Talemwa Pius’ striking magic realist fable “A Vineyard for a Lobster” and “Accept My Plea for a Burial,” a Somalia set critique of ancient custom, emerged triumphant at Locarno’s 2026 Open Doors, winning its two biggest cash prizes.

Neither prize comes as a surprise. 

Picturing a miraculous snowfall in a drought-ridden Ugandan village, in “A Vineyard for a Lobster,” Pius cleverly spins a political fable of broader collective breakdown, as characters – a desperate trader, a disgraced priest and a reluctant chairman – react to the miracle in self-serving ways rather than thinking about any common good. As their ambitions escalate, the village threatens to fall apart. From Kampala-based Gripmagic, “in the film, an impossible snowfall in a Ugandan village becomes a political allegory, echoing colonial intrusion,” Pius told Variety. 

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A €20,000 cash prize was also granted by Open Doors to “Accept My Plea for Burial” (“Baryo Aas Iga Gudoon”), by Mohammed Sheikh a Djibouti, Somalia and Qatar. It kicks in when Warmooge, 12, falls to his death while playing with Waasuge, a fellow goatherd. The village elder fails to resolve the case via customary law and religious counsel. Minnesota-based U.S.-Somali filmmaker Sheik’s follow-up to “Barni,” screening at Locarno, this is “a morally complex story where there is no clear truth, told through a rarely seen Somali cultural framework,” Sheikh told Variety.

Aseye Fiagbe’s “Too Much Music,” a rehabilitating music doc bio of Kiki Gyan, a Ghanaian keyboard prodigy, took in the same prize. Notably, however, Open Doors prizes announced Aug. 10 at Locarno Pro, the industry zone of Switzerland’s Locarno Film festival, were spread pretty evenly, every single titles among its six project focus walking off with some kind of compensation. 

That prize sweep took in a development grant from France’s CNC national film board for “Chapa 100,” an endearing advanced age love story from Mozambique’s Ique Langa, who impressed with his Rotterdam main competition entry “The Prophet.”

An ArteKino International Award and a Sørfond Award went to “Tempered Flowers,” a diary-like essay, Tanzania’s Ngelime told Variety. It will use constructed archives, cinema verité performances with her family and stop motion to explore, respectively, Neema’s 1990s childhood, today and imagined future.     

An EAVE Award was won by Burkina Faso’s Mamounata Nikiema at Pilumpiku Production, a prestigious documentary producer behind multiple doc-features, such as “Djeliya, Memory of Mandingo,” an ambitious, five-county co-pro. 

“Exploring the lost hope of the Nigerian dream,” “I Live in V.I.,” a social class satire by Ugochukwu Azuya set on Nigeria’s luxurious Victoria Island, won a Tabakalera-San Sebastian residency. The high-energy Adja Soro at the Ivory Coast’s animation-focused Studio KÄ scored an invitation to the Rotterdam Lab.  

Open Doors 2026 Winners

Open Doors Grants

A total of CHF 50,000 ($62,000) sponsored by Visions Sud Est (with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), the City of Bellinzona and the Open Doors initiative.

“A Vineyard For A Lobster,” by Talemwa Pius, produced by Emmanuel Gashumba (Gripmagic Uganda), Uganda

CHF 20,000($24,800)

“Accept My Plea for Burial,” by Mohammed Sheikh, produced by Kadir Harbi (Aleel Films),

Somalia/Djibouti

CHF 20,000 ($24,800)

“Too Much Music,” by Aseye Fiagbe, produced by Aseye Fiagbe (Aseye Fiagbe Creative Studio), Ghana

CHF10,000 ($12,400) 

CNC Development Grant

The CNC development prize is an incentive for the development of a project for the value of €8,000 ($9,200)  

“Chapa 100,” by Ique Langa, produced by Lara Sousa (Kulunga Filmes), Mozambique

ArteKino International Award

Providing an incentive for the development of a project for the value of €6,000 ($6,900). 

“The Ones with the Tempered Flowers,” by Neema Ngelime, produced by Ivy Kiru (LBx Africa), Tanzania/Kenya

Sørfond Award

The prize consists in the participation at the Sørfond Pitching Forum at the Films from the South festival for one of the Open Doors Projects, which will be held in November this year in Norway.

“The Ones with the Tempered Flowers,”

EAVE Award

Together with the Film Fund Luxembourg, professional training organisation EAVE will offer a scholarship for the EAVE Marketing Workshop worth €4,000 ($4,600).

Mamounata Nikiema, (Pilumpiku Production), Burkina FAso

Tabakalera-San Sebastian Film Festival Residency Award

The prize consists in a residency in Tabakalera and taking part in the industry activities of the San Sebastian Film Festival, given in collaboration with the International Culture Center Tabakalera and San Sebastian Film Festival.

“I Live in V.I.,” by Ugochukwu Azuya, produced by Olubunmi Ogunsola at Ensemble, Nigeria

Rotterdam Lab Award

In collaboration with IFFR Pro, a participant from the Open Doors Producers will have the chance to take part in the training workshop Rotterdam Lab in January 2027, together with a delegation of more than 70 emerging international producers.

Adja Mariam Mahre Soro (Studio KÄ), Ivory Coast

Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)

A consultancy prize to one selected feature film or series project directed by a national of an OIF Member State within the French-speaking Global South, produced or co-produced by a production company based in one of those same Member States.

“Sarah,” by Pocas Pascoal, Angola

AFP Critics Prize

Presented by African Film Press (AFP) LLC, a cross-regional publishing alliance covering the African film, television, and digital media markets. The AFP Critics Prize comprises a $500 cash award, a certificate, and ongoing editorial coverage of the recipient and their future work across AFP’s three founding publications: Akoroko, Sinema Focus, and What Kept Me Up.

“Submergido,” by Ariel Añez, produced by Joseph Mata, co-produced by Ariel Añez (Maochas Filmes), Mozambique

The AFP jury 2026 consisted of Kelvin Kariuki (Kenya), Vivian Nwajiaku (Nigeria), Jeffrey Ini-Abasi (Nigeria)