FeatureLab 2026

FeatureLab is a training programme dedicated to 1^st and 2^nd feature film projects from all over the world, at an advanced stage of development. Ten (10) creative teams of director and producer are selected to take part in the three-workshop path, starting in June 2026 and ending with the TFL Meeting Event in November, during which the participants have one-to-one meetings with market guests and the projects are assessed by an international Jury awarding production grants alongside partners’ awards.

For an overview of the programme, please visit the FeatureLab page.

DURATION: From June until November 2026. The programme comprises 2 week-long residential modules (June and November) and 1 online module (September).

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Tuesday, 2^nd December 2025, 4.00 pm CET.

To know more about FeatureLab 2026 join the online Q&A session with the curator Vincenzo Bugno, on 28th  October at 2.30 pm CET at the following link (pass code to the meeting 416716).

FeatureLab is organised by TorinoFilmLab – Museo Nazionale del Cinema with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Sub-programme of the European Union.

FeatureLab is open to creative teams of director and producer (together with a scriptwriter, if on board) from all over the world, developing their 1^st or 2^nd feature film projects. The programme is focused on film projects - fiction, creative documentaries, experimental, animation and any possible kind of cinema form - at an advanced stage of development.
 

Eligibility Criteria
a. The project must be the director’s 1^st or 2^nd feature film*.

b. At least a first draft of the script in English must be presented when applying (or an analogue document, according to the type of project).

c. Shooting must not begin earlier than 1^st December 2026.

d. Only one project application per year, per filmmaker, can be submitted.

e. A project that is refused one year, can be resubmitted another year if the project has gone through substantial changes. The same project cannot be submitted a third time, if rejected the second time around.

f. Directors who have participated in a previous edition of FeatureLab (formerly called Framework) cannot apply to FeatureLab 2026, but they are eligible and welcome to take part in other TFL programmes.

g. Applicants must confirm their full availability for all the residential and online workshops, as well as for the TFL Meeting Event.

h. The working language of all workshops, meetings and events is English; thus, a good knowledge of English is essential in order to participate, and all written materials, all versions and drafts of the project, must be translated into English.

*Are considered long features all those films over 60 minutes including fiction feature films, experimental films, animations and documentaries that had festival distribution or theatrical/digital distribution (including documentaries). In case of co-direction and Tv-product the committee can discuss the eligibility of the project.

PARTICIPATION FEES

3,000 Euro (+ VAT, if due) per team of 2 people (writer/director and producer).
Extra fee of 2,000 Euro (+ VAT, if due) for the third participant per project (scriptwriter, co-director or co-writer).

TFL provides training, accommodation (including breakfast), as well as lunches and some dinners during the residential workshops. Travel expenses and any remaining meals are to be borne by the participants.  

SCHOLARSHIPS

Our commitment is to guarantee accessibility to the TFL’s activities to as many talented participants as possible and to ensure diversity and inclusion through selection of projects/participants.

Across TFL programmes, a limited number of scholarships - covering half of the participation fee - will be available for participants from low capacity countries*, underrepresented groups and/or being from a country not providing scholarships for this kind of training, or participants in any other proven situation of need for financial support. We strongly encourage our applicants to research and apply for financial support within your national/regional funding bodies first, who may have bursaries and grants to cover the training costs.

*Low capacity countries (according to Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027) Group A: Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Poland. Group B: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and the following third countries, subject to the conditions being fulfilled for their participation in the call: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Ukraine. 

1^st residential workshop: first half of June 2026 (residential, place TBC)
2^nd online workshop: second half of September 2026, dates TBC
3^rd residential workshop and TFL Meeting Event: second half of November 2026 (Turin, Italy)

N.B. Dates may be subject to changes

All projects selected for FeatureLab 2026 will be considered for the Production Awards (up to €50,000) proven that the production company has acquired copyright from the authors.

Moreover, by applying to FeatureLab 2026, projects that meet the ELIGIBILITY criteria specified by Creative Europe-MEDIA for support to international co-productions will automatically compete also for the Co-Production Awards granted by MEDIA (grants of €50,000 each), reserved for international co-productions. This means that no separate application is required.

An international jury composed of five film professionals will evaluate the selected projects during the TFL Meeting Event 2026 to assign both the Production and the Co-production Awards.

In addition to these prizes, the projects participating in FeatureLab 2026 will also be eligible for the partners’ awards.

The requested materials – to be submitted all together in 1 single PDF (10 MB max.), and all in English – are:

1) Extended Synopsis containing detailed description of the narrative arc, characters, ending and other fundamental elements of the story - between min 4,000 and max 8,000 characters (spaces included)
2) Personal video presentation (max 2min) by the filmmaker and the producer in which is outlining their goals and expectations for attending the TFL FeatureLab (include the link to the video in the application package).
It is highly recommended to specify if the project has confirmed funds already.
3) Intention note about the project – up to 6,000 characters (spaces included).
4) Artistic concept & audio-visual reference
5) Web links to previous works of the director (FULL FILM)
6) Biographies of director, producer & writer (if on board)
7) Production company profile – 3 pages max.
8) Detailed budget (Euro)
9) Financing plan (Euro) - including structure of co-production (names & countries of companies, percentages of financing from each country and status) according to the form
10) Detailed development and production timetable (specify month/year)
11) Marketing & distribution strategy – 3 pages max.
12) Script in English, to be attached as the last element at the end of the dossier (an analogue document may be exceptionally accepted only for documentaries and hybrid projects)
13) Applicants and project main data - for communication purposes, according to the form. Please submit this form in a separated WORD document of your application package.

Any application package that won’t include all the requested materials will be considered ineligible.

IMPORTANT!

Preselected applicants will be notified by email on 8^th -9^th February 2026 and will be asked to submit a SECOND VIDEO MESSAGE providing a status update on the project
development specifically on the funding and producing stage (maximum 2 minutes) by Thursday 12^th February 2026, 2.00 pm CET.

An update financial plan will be also required.

Any project that will not respect the 12^th February deadline will be automatically excluded from the selection.

shortlisted applicants will be notified by the end of March 2026 and interviewed online by the beginning of April 2026.
Deadline for applications: Tuesday, 2^nd  December 2025, 4.00 pm CET

Please click on the "Apply Now!" button to access the application form and submit your project. Before starting the process, you need to create an account on the TFL Visitor Page (if you don’t already have one).

For more information, please contact the project manager Alessia Durante: durante@museocinema.it