Saint Lucian wins at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland
Filmmaker Michelle Serieux from Saint Lucia and the Caribbean was celebrated at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland after winning two prestigious Open Doors Awards.
Both were in development for their film project, a supernatural thriller called Black Madonna, which Michelle directed and produced through her production company Imagine Caribbean.
The first award presented, “Open Doors – OIF – ACP – EU Award”, will provide Michelle “a mix of story editing and co-production strategy support, advice in the development and refinement of the film dossier, based on the specific needs of the honored.” project”.
The second prize, “Open Doors – Moulin d’Andé-CECI Award”, offers a “Writing Residency” to an aspiring director who has participated in Open Doors 2022 (hub, lab or screenings), allowing them to continue working on the Writing and working on the development of their project”.
Michelle Serieux is the only filmmaker in this cohort from the Caribbean and the first filmmaker from St. Lucia to win both of these awards.
Michelle is particularly excited about a residency at a prestigious cultural institution in France, a major source of inspiration for new wave writers.
The Locarno Film Festival’s “OPEN DOORS” initiative has a new three-year focus focused on giving Latin American and Caribbean film projects the opportunity to reach and engage the industry players present at the festival in Switzerland.
Michelle Serieux, who lives in Mamiku on the east coast of St. Lucia, holds an MA in Film and Cinema Studies from Columbia University (with honors in Narrative Strategies for New Media). She holds a BA (First Class Honours) in Media and Communications, Theater and Cultural Studies from the University of the West Indies.
Michelle Serieux is a Writer/Director/Producer and Founder of Imagine Caribbean, a boutique production company focused on bringing unique film stories about the Caribbean.
The most recent non-fiction project is Don’t Come Searching, an international collaboration with Canadian filmmaker Andrew Moir, which recently had its world premiere at HotDocs 2022.
Current projects in development include supernatural thriller Black Madonna and hybrid new media project The Virgin and the Whore.
Michelle is happy to be back home in Mamiku, where her production company is based. The award-winning writer and director is excited to be based out of St. Lucia in the near future.