Laguna Film Lab

From July 24 to July 29 and from August 13 to September 1, 2025, in Chioggia, during the 11th edition of Laguna Sud – Il Cinema fuori dal Palazzo, the Laguna Film Lab residency will take place, coordinated by ZaLab.

The short films created during the residency will be showcased at a special event in Sala Laguna as part of the 22nd edition of Giornate degli Autori in collaboration with SIAE. The following day, they will be screened at the Auditorium San Nicolò in Chioggia, where the audience will vote for their favorite, awarding the Laguna Sud 2025 Prize – the iconic Chioggia pipe handcrafted by local artisan Giorgio “El Penelo” Boscolo.

The call is open to young authors under the age of 35 with some experience in filmmaking/writing/ photography/animation.
Five participants will be selected and, during the 25-day residency, each will independently produce a short documentary (maximum 10 minutes).

The residency will be divided into two parts:
July 24 – 29, 2025: location scouting;
August 13 – September 1: shooting and editing.

Throughout the residency, there will be meetings with internationally renowned tutors for all stages of the process: writing, filming, and editing.
Confirmed mentors include directors Andrea Segre, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Alessandro Cassigoli, and editor Chiara Russo. Additional mentors will be announced soon.
Support will also be provided for post-production and distribution, with a tour in six Italian cinemas between November 2025 and March 2026 in Padua, Palermo, Milan, Bologna, Rome, and Naples.

The theme of the residency is Fatalità.

Life, like cinema, brings surprises every day – some pleasant, others less so. The inhabitants of the lagoon have always lived with uncertainty, a randomness mirrored in the instability of the natural elements – water, wind – and the human ones: new people and startling new stories arriving by land and sea. In the lagoon, this magical condition of coincidence is called Fatałità. It’s used everywhere and in every context to describe a more or less fortuitous coincidence – or sometimes something so predictably unlucky that it becomes ironic.
“Fatałità, once again this year there’s the Laguna Film Lab…”
“Fatałità, this year’s theme is fatałità.”
Fatałità.

Call deadline: 11:59 PM on May 15, 2025
Selections will be announced by June 15, 2025
All travel and accommodation costs (meals and lodging) will be covered by the organization.

ZaLab reserves the right to publish the selected works on its documentary cinema platform zalabview.org after a potential festival presentation window, to be agreed upon with the author.

For more info:
lagunafilmlab@zalab.org
www.zalab.org