The Realness Institute Opens Call for 5th AuthenticA Series Lab

The AuthenticA Series Lab, a screenwriters programme from South Africa-based non-profit Realness Institute, is now open for applications for its 5th edition. The six-month programme delivered in partnership with The StoryBoard Collective, a Swiss non-profit organisation is designed and dedicated to storytellers from underrepresented communities. 

The programme, since inception, has supported 15 African writers with some writers currently in active co-production conversations with companies across the UK, France, Canada, and the US. Now entering its fifth year, the AuthenticA Series Lab comes at a time when the African film industry is particularly volatile and unstable, making this offering even more necessary. 

The programme welcomes submissions of original series projects in any genre, from writers living in Africa or the African diaspora, provided the story concept is set in Africa. Four writers will be selected for the programme, which is conducted through a mixture of online and in-person sessions, taking place from September 2026 to April 2027. Selected writers will be mentored by Selina Ukwuoma, Story Consultant and Director of Writing Programmes, and Mehret Mandefro, Creative Producer and Managing Director of the Realness Institute. 

Industry experts are invited to engage with the cohort as guest speakers, sharing their insights and professional journeys through case studies, offering a range of industry perspectives and practical guidance. Past guest speakers have included Anthony Q. Farrell of Canfro Productions, Layla Swart Producer/Co-Founder of Yellowbone Entertainment, Aoife Lennon-Ritchie Managing Director of Torchwood Literary & Scouting, Sameer Gardezi Founder, Break the Room Media,  and Pauline Fischer Founder & CEO, PMF Media Group, Inc. 

For its fifth year, the programme will open with in-person sessions in Ethiopia, a first, and then move through online sessions, which culminates in a two-month residency in Geneva, Switzerland, before the cohort pitches at Series Mania in Lille, France. At Series Mania, each writer will pitch their projects to industry decision-makers as part of the African Series Pitch in Lille, France, in March 2027. After the programme, each participant will deliver a pitch deck and a pilot script. The rights to the material developed through the programme will remain with each writer.

The Realness African Screenwriters Residency is an incubator for African screenwriters that provides residents with the practical support needed to refine their projects from a creative perspective, as well as to pitch their projects to industry partners for potential financing and production. The residency acts as a year-round support system for alumni, helping them take their scripts from the page to the screen, and fosters a new wave of authentic African cinema in the process.

Over the years, the programme, which was founded in 2015, has received over 650 submissions from 23 countries in Africa, and mentors have worked with over 30 film projects with 2 films produced as a result. These films include Ethiopian Hiwot Adamasu’s A Fool God and Lemoghang Jeremiah Mosese’s This is not a Burial – It’s a Resurrection. 

Upon residency completion, the Realness Institute will be submitting the writers’ pitch deck and pilot script to its international partners for awards consideration. All participants are eligible for scholarships to attend further labs and workshops, such as the Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Torino Film Lab Meeting Event, EAVE Producer’s Workshop, La Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde in Cannes, and International Film Festival Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro’s Rotterdam Lab.

The call for applications is open from Monday, 06 July 2026, closing on Saturday, 1 August 2026.