African Film Press (AFP) — the cross-regional alliance of founding publications Akoroko, Sinema Focus, and What Kept Me Up — joins Locarno’s Open Doors as an award partner for the 2026 edition and will present the AFP Critics Prize to one of the selected projects. The prize includes a USD 500 cash award, a certificate, and ongoing editorial coverage of the recipient and their future work across AFP networks.

AFP first presented the prize on 5 December 2025 at the 5th edition of the S16 Film Festival in Lagos, where the inaugural award went to Nigerian filmmaker Dika Ofoma for his short film Obi Is a Boy. Ofoma himself was a year-one Open Doors Africa participant: his feature project Kachifo (Till the Morning Comes) was selected for the 2025 Open Doors Projects line-up and won three awards at that edition.

The 2026 edition is the second year of Open Doors’ four-edition cycle dedicated to 42 African countries, with eligibility set under the guidelines of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The program runs from 5 to 10 August during the Locarno Film Festival and its industry arm, Locarno Pro, with training, mentoring, and networking alongside public screenings.

AFP is one of two partners added to the awards roster this year, alongside an EAVE and Luxembourg Film Fund scholarship worth EUR 4,000 for the EAVE Marketing Workshop.

A jury will award the prizes on 10 August. The established awards include the Open Doors Grant of CHF 50,000 from visions sud est and the City of Bellinzona, the CNC Development Prize of EUR 8,000, and the Arte Kino International Prize of EUR 6,000, with further awards from IFFR Pro, the International Culture Center Tabakalera and San Sebastián Film Festival, the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and Sørfond.