TorinoFilmLab, the development platform for emerging and established filmmakers, has announced the projects selected for its 2026 FeatureLab strand. Organised by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema with the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA sub-programme of the European Union, in partnership with German Films, the initiative focuses on advanced-stage feature projects, combining artistic development with production and promotion strategies through mentorship, workshops and international networking opportunities.

The 2026 edition brings together 21 professionals representing ten projects, selected from a pool of 236 applications spanning 73 countries. The line-up includes seven debut features and three second films, reflecting a broad geographical spread, with participants from Austria, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines and Portugal.

Guided by head of studies Violeta Bava and curator Vincenzo Bugno, the participants will engage with a team of international experts, including cinematographer Muriel Aboulrouss, creative producer Marta Andreu, editor Jorge Jácome, script consultants Chiara Laudani, Miguel Machalski and Magali Negroni, pitching trainer Stefano Tealdi, filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari and sound designer Jean-Guy Veran. The programme unfolds between June and November 2026, featuring two residential workshops in Turin and an online module, culminating in the presentation of the projects at the TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event during the Torino Film Festival.

The selection brings together a group of European debutant writer-directors focusing on personal stories shaped by economic pressure, memory and social environment. In 900 Tons, Daniel Soares follows a young couple struggling to balance parenthood, unstable work and financial denial, using dark humour to explore masculinity and precarity. Almanstadt by Thomas Taube shifts the focus to a housing complex, structuring the narrative around multiple residents whose lives reflect broader questions of identity and belonging. In Bumper Cars, Maximilian Bungarten examines grief and displacement through a teenager who forms a connection with a visiting fair worker after the death of his best friend.

Other projects take a more introspective approach, dealing with family history and mortality. Isabel by Giorgio Giampà follows a young agronomist tracing her father’s past between Guatemala and the United States, combining migration themes with a personal investigation. Meanwhile, Unfinished Painting, the sophomore project by Catarina Vasconcelos (The Metamorphosis of Birds), centres on a woman facing terminal illness, framing death as an ongoing dialogue, rather than a final event.

The selected FeatureLab projects are as follows:

Bumper Cars - Maximilian Bungarten (Germany)
Co-writer: Massimiliano Camaiti
Producer: Felix Herrmann (Benedetta Films)

Worse Together - Luis De Filippis (Canada)
Producer: Jessica Adams (JA Productions Inc)

Name and Surname - Duván Duque Vargas (Colombia)
Producer: Capucine Mahé (Evidencia Films)

Isabel - Giorgio Giampà (Italy)
Producers: Lorenzo Cioffi (Zoe Films), LaDoc

The Void Is Immense in Idle Hours - Sam Manacsa (Philippines/Indonesia)
Producers: Chad Cabigon (NextLives), Kawan Kawan Media

900 Tons - Daniel Soares (Portugal)
Producer: Luis Urbano (O Som e a Fúria)

Star Girls - Chee Sum Chia (Malaysia)
Producer: Jing Xuan Chua (The Commonist)

Almanstadt - Thomas Taube (Germany)
Producer: Dominik Eder (Oksuperdanke Filmproduktion)

Unfinished Painting - Catarina Vasconcelos (Portugal)
Producer: Pedro Fernandes Duarte (Primeira Idade)

Holy Mother - Sinung Winahyoko (Indonesia)
Producer: Fadhila Dwi Ristianty (Krosskultur Media)