‘The Ones With the Tempered Flowers,’ by Neema Ngelime, scooped two sponsor plaudits at a Monday awards ceremony where all six projects walked off with compensation
Plus IconJohn Hopewell
Chief International Correspondent
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Locarno Open Doors winners Courtesy of Locarno FIlm Festival/Ti Press 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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