10/06/2025 - 33 projects and seven story-editor trainees will take part in the script-development programme, once again held on the Southeast Aegean islands

The European MFI Script 2 Film Workshops, organised by the Mediterranean Film Institute (MFI), are returning for their 26th edition on the island of Nisyros. From 20 June-2 July, over 70 screenwriters, directors and producers from 24 countries will gather on the volcanic island to develop their scripts and ideas through a combination of group sessions, individual consultations and master classes.

This year’s edition attracted nearly 250 applications from more than 50 countries, ranging from Kazakhstan and Peru to Finland, Palestine and Tunisia. A total of 24 feature-length scripts, six documentaries, three series projects and seven story-editor trainees were selected to participate. The programme includes two residential workshops (in Nisyros in June and Astypalea in October), as well as two online sessions.

This year’s participants will benefit from sessions and lectures with acclaimed professionals. The programme includes the workshop “AI for Screenwriters: Empowering Storytelling” with screenwriter and script consultant Oliver Schütte, who is the founder of Scriptforum, Germany’s first forum dedicated to script development. Project development sessions will take place under the guidance of Marjorie Bendeck, director of connecting cottbus.

Script development from a production perspective will be explored in group meetings led by Spanish producer Simón de Santiago (The Sea Inside [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), who will also present a case study on The Blue Star [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Javier Macipe
film profile] by Javier Macipe, followed by a screening and a Q&A session. Participants will have individual meetings with Angeliki Vergou, head of the Agora of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and with Martina Bleis, head of the Berlinale Co-Production Market and a long-standing expert on international co-productions. The online master class “From Tutor Shadow to Script Consultant” will be offered to the trainee story editors by Isabelle Fauvel, a veteran development producer with experience in European training programmes.

For the Film Lab, the programme’s educational team includes British screenwriter, producer and script editor Angeli Macfarlane, seasoned Spanish script consultant Ana Sanz Magallón, Greek screenwriter and director Dimitris Emmanouilidis, and Greek screenwriter, author and academic Nikos Panagiotopoulos. The Series Lab is led by Belgian screenwriter specialising in television and cinema Michel Sabbe. As for the documentary strand, the educational team includes Danish documentary development consultant Ove Jensen and Marco Gastine, an award-winning creative documentary director noted for blending French storytelling approaches with Greek contemporary realities.

Backed by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme, and supported by the Municipalities of Nisyros and Astypalea, ERT and the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center (EKKOMED), the MFI Script 2 Film Workshops continue to be a central force in European project development. The initiative also works closely with renowned festivals, schools and development platforms, such as the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Sofia Meetings, Meetings on the Bridge, Green Film, Cyprus’s Dot on the Map and the Film Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, among others.

Here is the complete selection for the 2025 MFI Script 2 Film Workshops:

MFI Film LAB

Martino – Alessandro Abba Legnazzi, Zelia Zbogar (Italy)
Producer: Alessandro Carroli

Dead End – Seamus Altun (Turkey)
Producer: Johanna Sveinsdottir

Dendrophilia – Hannah Bales (Luxembourg)

Running with Beasts – Leila Basma, Mohamad Yassine (Czech Republic/Lebanon)
Producer: Natália Pavlove

Elsewhere – Adelina Boret, Dmytro Sukhanov (Poland)

The Cold Breeze of Summer – Silvia Brunelli, Francesca Maria Scanu, Vinicio Canton (Italy)
Producer: Andrea Magnani

Soil – Elizabeth Chatelain (USA)

The Shade of Your Shadow – Ely Chevillot (Belgium)

The Unmoving Hands – Victor Diago (Spain)

Penumbra – Raphaël Duhamel, Masha Egieva (UK)

Porto Alegre – Álvaro Gago Díaz, Berta Dávila (Spain)

Marry, Then Die – Elza Gauja, Līva Vernere (Latvia)
Producer: Uldis Cekulis

Graceland – Faidon Gkretsikos (Greece)
Producer: Katerina Bartsoka

Malpractice – Alberto Gross Molo, Tomás Bayo (Spain)

In the Room – Anastasia Kratidi (Greece)

Happiness – Paolo Marinou-Blanco (Portugal)

Sunbruise – Stavros Markoulakis (Greece)
Producer: Ioanna Bolomyti

The Passport – Rakan Mayasi (Palestine/Germany/Jordan)
Producer: May Odeh

Bright Grey – Miruna Minculescu, Oana Iancu (Romania/Germany)

Amari Family – Petya Nakova, Valeri Lekov (Bulgaria)

Mami Papi – Hannah Renton, Daniel Sanchez-Lopez (UK)
Producer: Daniel Sanchez-Lopez

Enculés – Patrick Tass (Belgium)
Producer: Annabella Nezri

Urke – Agata Trzebuchowska, Mateusz Kłodecki, Patryk Sielecki (Poland)

The Cure – Simeon Ventsislavov, Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria)
Producer: Stephan Komandarev

MFI Series LAB

FOMO – María de Castro, Annabelle Mullen (Spain)
Producer: Luisa Romeo

K-Dream – Mi hoa Lee (Spain)

The Method – Folkert Verdoorn, Luca van Bambost (Netherlands/Italy)

MFI Doc LAB

Barbie Girl – Mary Bouli (Greece)

Queens Ballroom – Siyi Chen, Hansen Lin (China/USA)

Who Killed Zackie Oh! – Sophia Farantatou (Greece)
Producer: Maria Sidiropoulou

Taken by the White Man – Ana Sofia Fonseca (Portugal)
Producer: Daniella Rice

Oh Heart Don’t Be Afraid – Ana Kvichidze (Georgia)
Producer: Avto Khorava

Finding Kvens – Einari Paakkanen (Finland)
Producer: Marianne Mäkelä

Story editor trainees

Nikoletta Charou (Greece)
Greta Griniūtė (Spain)
Kevin Meul (Belgium)
Kamila Pham (France)
Anders Wilhelmsson (Sweden)
Catherine Williams (UK)
Sophia Zornitsa (Bulgaria)

Observer
Antony Zachariadis (Greece)

Internship
Periklis Miserlis – Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos (Greece)