AuthenticA Series Lab is currently having an eight-day residency in Ethiopia, which will end on 25th September, 2026 and will then be followed by virtual sessions lasting until 14th January, 2027.
By Adedamola Jones Adedayo
Four African screenwriters from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Cameroon have been selected for the fifth edition of the AuthenticA Series Lab, a six-month screenwriting programme organised by the South Africa-based outfit Realness Institute. This comes after an earlier call for applications, with the 2026 edition receiving 144 submissions from 27 countries.
Selected from Nigeria is Lateefah Mayaki, a writer, director, cinematographer, journalist and a Story Mi Academy fellow who has previously worked on the short films Fluid Lagos (2024) and Angel in the Stone (2024).
Lindsey Addawoo, a Ghanaian-Canadian screenwriter, joins the lab with credits including Queen of Hearts (2018) and Promise Me (2020), as well as writing contributions to the television series No Church in the Wild (2020) and Coroner (2021–2022).
South African filmmaker Phumi Morare is known for Dress (Beneath the Veil) (2020), When the Sun Sets (2021), and Why the Cattle Wait (2024). Her projects have screened at international festivals, including the Telluride Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, and American Black Film Festival.
The list is rounded out by Cameroonian actress and filmmaker Sahndra Fon Dufe, who is known for the screenplay of Unconditional Love (2014).
AuthenticA Series Lab is currently having an eight-day residency in Ethiopia, which will end on 25th September, 2026 and will then be followed by virtual sessions lasting until 14th January, 2027. Another in-person residency will take place from 19th January to 21st March, 2027, in Geneva, Switzerland, culminating in a final event from 22nd to 26th March, 2027, in Lille, France, where they will pitch their projects as part of the African Series Pitch at the Series Mania Forum.
The cohort will receive mentorship from Realness Institute’s Director of Producing and Showrunning, Mehret Mandefro, and Director of Writing Programmes, Selina Ukwuoma.
The AuthenticA Series Lab is backed by Geneva-based non-profit organisation The Storyboard Collective, as part of its commitment to empowering storytellers from marginalised regions. The programme is also supported by the Canada Media Fund and Series Mania Forum.