– Sixteen writer-directors, two co-writers and four story-editor trainees, alongside participants in ComedyLab and Green Film Lab, will take part in the industry initiatives
Director Marija Kavtaradze, who is taking part in ScriptLab with Gap Year
TorinoFilmLab, the development platform for emerging and established filmmakers, has unveiled the projects selected for its 2026 ScriptLab, ComedyLab and Green Film Lab strands. Organised by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema with the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA sub-programme of the European Union, the initiatives support filmmakers across early development, genre-focused writing and sustainable production practices, offering mentorship, peer-to-peer exchange and international networking opportunities.
ScriptLab 2026 brings together 22 professionals – 16 writer-directors, two co-writers and four story-editor trainees – hailing from 21 different countries. The selection reflects a diverse and international group of filmmakers, with 11 women, three non-binary participants and eight men taking part.
Among the selected participants are established and emerging voices such as Marija Kavtaradze, whose latest feature, Slow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marija Kavtaradze
film profile], won the Best Director Award in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. She is joined by Estonia’s Eeva Mägi, who continues the film cycle that began with Mo Mamma [+see also:
film review
interview: Eeva Mägi
film profile] and Mo Papa [+see also:
film review
film profile] with her latest project, Mo Tori, and Luxembourgish writer-director Eric Lamhène, presenting his sophomore feature, following Breathing Underwater [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eric Lamhène, Rae Lyn Lee
film profile].
ScriptLab 2026 is realised in partnership with Film Fund Luxembourg, the Tartu Film Fund and the Estonian Film Institute. The programme will include workshops in Luxembourg, Estonia and Italy, as well as online sessions, culminating in the presentation of the projects at the TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event, held during the Torino Film Festival in November.
ComedyLab, TorinoFilmLab’s strand dedicated to feature-length comedy projects, has selected four projects that will be developed through workshops and collaborations with professional performers. The programme is organised in partnership with VAF – Flanders Audiovisual Fund and the Polish Film Institute.
In parallel, the Green Film Lab continues its focus on sustainability in audiovisual production, gathering six projects and 24 participants for a workshop aimed at promoting environmentally responsible filmmaking practices, in collaboration with partners including the Trentino Film Commission, ACE Producers, EAVE and EcoProd.
The selected projects are as follows:
ScriptLab
The Pessoptimists – Abdallah Alkhatib (Palestine) (third feature)
Norheimsund – Ana Alpizar (Cuba/USA) (first feature)
The Older Sister – Rafaela Camelo (Brazil) (third feature)
Co-writer: André Pereira (Brazil)
Lampblack – Nicolò Folin (Italy) (first feature)
Pale Comfort – Reuben Hamlyn (UK/USA) (second feature)
Gap Year – Marija Kavtaradze (Lithuania) (third feature)
In Quiet Hands – Mickey Lai (Malaysia) (first feature)
The Sky Below Us – Eric Lamhène (Luxembourg) (second feature)
Fiesta – Coralie Lavergne (France) (first feature)
Mo Tori – Eeva Mägi (Estonia) (fourth feature)
Love in the Paleolithic – Isadora Neves Marques (Portugal) (first feature)
The Last Angel of Beirut – Valentin Noujaïm (France/Lebanon) (first feature)
Anywhere Anytime – Helio Pu (France) (first feature)
Co-writer: Eli Ligonnet Lam (France/Vietnam)
I Wanna Dance With Myself – Khozy Rizal (Indonesia) (first feature)
King of Vegetables – Arjun Talwar (India) (third feature)
Half and Half – Hoi Ying Chu (Hong Kong/Taiwan) (first feature)
ComedyLab
Plus One – Zayn Alexandre (Lebanon) (first feature)
The 20-Year Curse – Naomi Ko (USA) (first feature)
Not That Far – Pablo Léridon (France) (first feature)
Thunder Tits – Julie Skaufel (Norway) (second feature)
Green Film Lab
Concrete Music – Saulius Baradinskas
Piggy Baby (Bambino maialino) – Maria Giménez Cavallo
The Nursery (Il Nido) – Claudio Giovannesi
Priceless – Paul-Răzvan Macovei
The Hottest Summer in History – Tommaso Pitta
Borderland (Inverno) – Matteo Tortone
ScriptLab story-editor trainees
Esra Demirkiran (Turkey)
Naomi Lladó Quer (Spain)
Kris Ong (Singapore)
Vėjūnė Tamuliūnaitė (Lithuania)
ComedyLab writers and performers
Kat Geborys (Poland)
Jessica González Campos (Spain)
Hadi Kubba (Canada)
Jeroen Verdick (Belgium)
