Rawi Screenwriters’ Lab

Each year, fellows and advisors work intensively for five days on their feature narrative screenplays. Each fellow will have several one-on-one story sessions with the lab's creative advisors. The advisors’ guidance ranges from improving the fellow's technique as a screenwriter, to life lessons and practical suggestions to be explored in their next draft. Emphasis is placed on each fellow's individual voice and story.

An advisory committee of writers, established film critics, screenplay editors, script doctors, scholars and film professionals work with the Lab team throughout the selection process. They are referred to as Creative Consultants. The primary short listing is based on script merits: story, originality, characters, dialogue, structure, writing style, individual voices, the status of the screenplay and its suitability to benefit from the Lab. Where applicable, we look very closely at the directing work of the writer.

Over the past 18 years, the lab has supported under the mentorship of around 100 advisors more than 143 emerging screenwriters and counting, from different Arab countries including: Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Kuwait, Algeria, Iran, Yeman, Sudan, Bahrain and the UAE.