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Clockwise from top left: Lindsey Addawoo, Lateefah Mayaki, Sahndra Fon Dufe, Phumi Morare
EXCLUSIVE: Four screenwriters from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Cameroon will participate in AuthenticA Series Lab, the training programme that supports African writers to advance their series ideas into pilot scripts.
The participants are Lateefah Mayaki, a writer, director and cinematographer based in Lagos, Nigeria; Ghanaian-Canadian writer-director Lindsey Addawoo; South African filmmaker Phumi Morare; and Cameroonian filmmaker Sahndra Fon Dufe.
The programme is currently holding an eight-day residency in Ethiopia until September 25, which will be followed by online sessions until January 14, 2027.
A second in-person residency takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, from January 19 to March 21, with a final event in Lille, France, from March 22-26, where participants will pitch their projects as part of the African Series Pitch at Series Mania Forum.
The participants will be mentored by Realness director of producing and showrunning Mehret Mandefro and director of writing programmes Selina Ukwuoma. The 2026 edition received 144 applications from 27 countries.
“Offering writers the time, mentorship and industry access to turn an original idea into a market-ready series seems even more important in light of what is going on in the world,” said Mandefro. “We need to write a new world, and that begins with supporting fresh voices that have something to say.”
“This year’s unprecedented all-female group of storytellers gives us a glimpse into four more fascinating worlds we have not yet encountered on screen,” added Ukwuoma.
The programme is run with Geneva-based philanthropic organisation The Storyboard Collective, supported by the Canada Media Fund and Series Mania Forum.
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