The Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut, in collaboration with Metropolis Art Cinema, presents an intensive screenwriting workshop led by filmmakers and screenwriters Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia, two of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Italian cinema.
Acclaimed at major international film festivals, Piazza and Grassadonia have developed a body of work deeply rooted in screenwriting, world-building and the creation of complex, memorable characters. In this workshop, they place their experience at the service of writers and directors interested in developing a fiction project through a rigorous, in-depth and shared creative process.
The workshop is addressed to participants with prior professional experience in the field of cinema and focuses on the creative development of fiction projects, starting from either a treatment or a full screenplay. The work unfolds in a collective format: each project is discussed within a small group, encouraging critical exchange, attentive listening and the construction of a shared working language through peer reading, discussion and ongoing dialogue.
Conceived as an intensive yet welcoming space, the workshop values not only the mentoring sessions themselves, but also the time spent together by tutors and participants as an integral part of the creative process. An immersive experience designed to stimulate reflection, strengthen authorial awareness and guide projects towards a more mature and fully articulated form.
Who Should Apply
- Emerging and experienced writers and filmmakers
- Scriptwriters and filmmakers who have a treatment or script at a development stage
- Participants must be available for all workshop dates: 5-7 May, 2026 in Beirut ( Metropolis Cinema, Mar Mikhael)
- English fluency is required (workshop will be conducted in English)
Submission Requirements
To apply, please fill this Entry form
Deadline for submissions: 22 March, 2026
For any additional questions, contact: industry@metropoliscinema.net
FABIO GRASSADONIA and ANTONIO PIAZZA
Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza are writer-directors known for their evocative cinema, deeply rooted in their native Sicily. In their films, the island becomes an almost metaphysical space, suspended between light and shadow, dream and enchantment. The distinctive aesthetic has established them among the most highly regarded contemporary Italian filmmakers, earning recognition at major international film festivals.
After the multi-award-winning short film Rita, they made their feature debut in 2013 with Salvo, a stark and visionary noir starring Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri. The film won both the Grand Prix and the Prix Révélation at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes.
In 2017 they returned to Cannes with Sicilian Ghost Story, a dark fairy tale inspired by a painful true story, selected as the opening film of the Semaine de la Critique, marking the first time an Italian film had opened the section. The screenplay received the Sundance Institute Global Filmmaking Award and later won the David di Donatello Award.
In 2024 their film Sicilian Letters premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival. An epistolary black comedy exploring power, deception, and life in hiding, it received the Pasinetti Award for Best Italian Film, performed strongly at the Italian box office, and secured broad international distribution.
Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza have also worked as script advisors for several international development labs, including Berlinale Residency, Locarno Open Doors, POWR Baltic Event, Torino FilmLab, Cannes Semaine de la Critique Next Step, Red Sea Labs The Lodge, and European Short Pitch.
They have served as Visiting Affiliate Professors at the University of Malta, where they taught Filmmaking and Scriptwriting within the Master in Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts.
Filmography
2024 – Sicilian Letters
2017 – Sicilian Ghost Story
2013 – Salvo
2010 – Rita (short film)