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
“My Father’s Kora” (“La Kora de Mon Père”), a Benin-Switzerland-Germany production, will have its world premiere Aug. 9 at Locarno’s Open Doors section, which has focused on 42 countries of the African continent since 2025. The film follows Souleymane Everston Adowo Freudenreich, an Afro-German trans man who travels to Dakar, Senegal, to repair his father’s