Open Doors 2007 focussed on cinema in the Near and Middle East (Mashrek): on Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, the Palestinian Territories and Egypt.
On top of it, the section invited two special guests: the Cinéfondation from Cannes and the Buenos Aires Lab (BAL Goes International). Both of them presented 6 projects.

Selected projects

EYE OF THE PHOENIX (Lebanon) by Mai Masri   
FIX ME (Palestine) by Raed Andoni
FROM NOWHERE WITH LOVE (Jordan) by Hazim Bitar   
HALAL (Lebanon) by Assad Fouladkar
HARAG WE MARAG (Egypt) by Nadine Khan
HE! N’OUBLIE PAS LE CUMIN (Palestine) by Hala Alabdalla
I CAN’T GO HOME (Lebanon) by Khalil Joreige & Joana Hadjithomas
JUSTICE MUST BE SEEN (Israel) by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
LE CHEMIN DES FIGUIERS (Palestine) by Meyar AL-Roumi
MAN WITHOUT A CELLPHONE (Israel) by Sameh Zoabi
MESSAGES FROM THE SEA (Egypt) by Daoud Abd El-Sayed
THANATOR (Israel) by Tawfik Abu-Wael
THE ONE-MAN VILLAGE (Lebanon) by Simon El-Habre

The two grants for development and production offered by the SDC and jointly allocated by the Festival and visions sud est, the Swiss fund for production support:

Tanathor, from Palestinian director Tawfik Abu-Wael, produced by Amir Harel / Lama Films (Israel).
Value of the grant: 50,000 Swiss francs.

Le chemin des figuiers, from Syrian director Meyar Al Roumi, produced by Emmanuel Agneray and Jérôme Bleitrach/BIZIBI Productions (France).
Value of the grant: 50,000 Swiss francs.

The two awards offered by the Centre National de la Cinématographie (France) went to:

Justice Must Be Seen, from Israeli director Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, produced by Liran Atzmor/Belfilms (Israel): 10,000 € allocated to a feature film in development.

Harag We Marag, from Egyptian director Nadine Khan, produced by Nadine Khan / Wika Production (Egypt): all expenses paid for a two months’ stay at the Moulin d’Andé writer’s residency in France.

Selected projects:
AGUA FRIA DE MAR (Costa Rica) by Paz Fabrega
LA BELLEZA / NOSILATIAJ (Argentina) by Daniela Seggiaro
LAS CENIZAS (Perù) by Raul del Busto
NAVIDAD (Cile) by Sebastian Lelio
PUERTO PADRE (Costa Rica) by Gustavo Fallas
RIO FIJMAN (Argentina) by Luis Ortega

Selected projects:
AUSENCIAS (Argentina) by Milagros Mumenthaler   
K & ALI (Turkey) by Pelin Esmer
KEEP SMILING (Georgia) by Rusudan Chkonia   
THE POLICEMAN (Israel) by Nadav Lapid
THE ROOSTER: URBAN LEGENDS (Iran) by Mitra Farahani