Screen Daily Announces Selection of 4th Cohort of AuthenticA Series Lab

The Realness Institute in partnership with The StoryBoard Collective, and the Canada Media  Fund has announced the four African participants for the 2025 AuthenticA Series Lab for the fourth edition of the programme which gives screenwriters a unique opportunity to shape their original ideas into episodic storytelling across any genre.

The cohort includes award-winning Ghanaian storyteller Gamel Apalayine who works across film, TV, theatre, and music; award-winning Nigerian-British poet, filmmaker, and photographer Joladé Olusanya; acclaimed Kenyan scriptwriter and bestselling author Mona Ombogo; and award-winning Egyptian-Canadian filmmaker and human rights advocate Reem Morsi.

The aim of AuthenticA is to ensure that upon completion of the programme, participants will have professionally developed pitch decks, their pilot scripts, and a series “Bible” to support their proposals for funding  and support - in line with international standards. All intellectual property rights in the material developed will remain with the respective writer.

The dynamic programme kicks off with an 8-day in-person residency in the Western Cape, South Africa (Coot Club, based in Stanford) from 3 to 10 September this year, followed by online sessions until mid-December. The second in-person residency takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 19 January to 19 March 2026. The final residency will take place in Lille, France, from 20 to 27 March 2026, where they will pitch their projects as part of the African Series Pitch at the Series Mania Forum in Lille, France, Europe’s largest co-production series market and festival that attracts talent scouts, sales agents, broadcasters, investors and distributors.

Read the full story in Screen Daily.