Cine Qua Non Lab is pleased to announce the participants selected for its 2019 Script Revision Lab in English. 

The Script Revision Lab is a residential workshop that gives independent filmmakers from around the world the opportunity to work intensively on their feature-length narrative scripts.

The 2019 Script Revision Lab in English will be held August 2nd—17th in Tzintzuntzan, a small town in the State of Michoacán, Mexico, approximately 50 km from the city of Morelia, in a quiet natural retreat overlooking Lake Pátzcuaro.

The 2019 Script Revision Lab in English is a recipient of the prestigious FilmCraft grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy grant will help Cine Qua Non Lab fulfil its mission to support independent film with a global and humanistic sensibility, strengthening the power of diverse storytellers and helping them envision and develop their work.

This year, as a way of celebrating its 10th anniversary, Cine Qua Non Lab is bringing two facilitators to the Script Revision Lab in English and extending its duration.  The lab will be facilitated by Christina Lazaridi and Brendan N. Ward.

Christina Lazaridi is an award-winning screenwriter and internationally renowned screenwriting mentor.  She is a Professor of Screenwriting at Princeton University and has also taught extensively at Columbia University in New York.  Projects she has authored or actively developed have been nominated for an Academy Award-Oscar® and have won awards at the Cannes, Berlin, Tribeca, Sarajevo and Sundance film festivals, among others, as well as the Ariel Awards in Mexico and the Silver Condor Awards in Argentina.

Brendan N. Ward is a Professor of Film at Columbia University in New York City and a Professor-at-Large at the Czech Film and Television Academy (FAMU) in Prague. He has also taught at renowned international institutions such as Yale College and Yale School of Drama; New York University; the Film Academy in Hanoi, Vietnam; the International School of Film and Television in Cuba; and the Dramatiska Institute in Stockholm.

As part of its partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), Cine Qua Non Lab selected one TFI-supported project for a spot in its Script Revision Lab in English. The 2019 Cine Qua Non LabTFI Network Award, presented at the Tribeca Film Festival, was granted to Zoe Sua Cho for her project Belonging. Also as part of this partnership, film pitch training will be provided during the lab by Bryce Norbitz from Tribeca Film Institute.

Bryce Norbitz is the Director of Scripted Programs at Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), where she empowers filmmakers through grant programs, workshops, screenings and events. Bryce curates projects throughout TFI funding programs, including Tribeca All Access, AT&T Presents: Untold Stories, Through Her Lens and the production market TFI Network.

The 14 participants in the 2019 Script Revision Lab in English come from Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Lebanon, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and the United States of America, and were selected based on the quality, freshness and originality of their projects. Below is the list of the participants and their projects:

Bane Fakih (Lebanon) — Keep it Together

Jeremy Xido (USA/Romania) — Midnight Monsters

Jih-E Peng (Hong Kong) — Two Girls

Jordan dela Cruz (Philippines) — The Perilous Odyssey to Mount Gulsuk

Kimberly Bautista (Colombia/USA) — 19.99 Plus Tax

Matthys Boshoff (South Africa) — Vlees van my vlees (Flesh of My Flesh)

Meedo Taha (Lebanon/UK) — Other People

Octavio Rodríguez (Colombia) — El cantar de los Andes (Andean Song)

Rob Richert (USA) — Heroic Dose

Shuchi Talati (India) — Girls Will Be Girls

Tess Elliot (USA) — Children’s Books

Valerie Bischoff (USA) — True Patriots

Yvan Iturriaga (Chile/USA) — American Babylon

Zoe Sua Cho (South Korea/New Zealand) — Belonging