SCREENWRITERS PROGRAM
Information & Application Details
Applications for the Screenwriters program are now closed.
The working language is English; thus, a good knowledge of English is essential in order to participate.
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Location
Costa Navarino, Messinia, Greece -
Dates
July 1 - 9, 2026 -
Duration
8 days -
Application Deadline
January 14, 2026 at 11:59 pm EET Athens, Greece
The Screenwriters program of the Oxbelly Retreat supports writer-directors developing their second fiction feature films who are seeking to strengthen their craft and push the boundaries of their unique cinematic voice. The fellows will workshop their scripts through individualized meetings with experienced writer-director advisors and participate in sessions on specific aspects of the creative process. Τhe program promotes a multidisciplinary approach: fellows participate in sessions with creatives from other fields, such as theatre, visual arts, and literature, encouraging them to broaden their narrative perspective and explore storytelling across forms. The Oxbelly Retreat is held at Costa Navarino in historic Messinia, Greece. The 2026 Screenwriters program is led by Program Director Radu Jude.
Program Details
The first four days consist of one-on-one sessions and workshops with experienced writer-director advisors.
The second half of the program expands to include special guests who range from established directors, actors, cinematographers, composers, editors to producers and industry professionals, as well as creatives from other fields such as theatre, visual arts, and literature.
While the 8-day program focuses solely on the creative writing process, the established creatives and industry who participate in Oxbelly become resources to the fellows' projects and careers post-Retreat.
Evenings consist of interdisciplinary programming for all attendees– a curated series of sessions exploring the craft of writing, readings, screenings and panel discussions that cut across multiple mediums. Fellows will also have the chance to engage with attendees from other creative sectors, including the fellows and advisors from the Fiction Writers program.
The Screenwriters program has no cost to apply and all expenses for fellows are covered.
Applications close January 14, 2026. Finalists will be interviewed in late spring 2026.
The Screenwriters program is open to writer-directors applying with their second fiction feature film.
The application materials consist of a project synopsis, a writer’s statement, a treatment, a full script, a sample of their debut fiction feature film and a mood board (optional). Each applicant must be the author of the material they submit.
For any information, please email contact@oxbelly.com.
F.A.Q.
The Screenwriters program is open to any promising writer-director who is in the process of writing their second fiction feature film and has had one previous fiction feature already produced. Only applicants who have written and directed their debut feature are eligible. Kindly note that the applicants’ debut feature should be picturelocked at the time of the application submission, but it doesn’t need to have been released, whether through a festival premiere or other distribution. This program is not open to students. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of the application.
No, applicants should have both written and directed a fiction feature film to be eligible.
Yes, we take co-writing and co-directing credits as part of a duo team into consideration when it comes to eligibility.
Yes, applicants that have written or co-written multiple fiction feature scripts but have only directed (or co-directed) one feature film are eligible.
No, you can only apply with one project.
Screenplays should be at a stage that the applicant’s writing process will benefit from external notes. Strongest applications will express a clear sense of vision and direction of the film overall, with equal clarity on what the applicant is seeking to explore or evolve in the current draft of the screenplay.
As well as individual writers, writing partnerships of two (maximum) may enter. Material submitted must be written by the partnership.
Adaptations of third party material will not be accepted. Submissions must be the writer's original work, and may not be based wholly or in part, on the work of any other person, whether known, published, produced or not.
Whilst the primary focus of the Screenwriters program are fiction projects, we are open to consider hybrid projects with a strong cinematic voice that blend non-fiction elements or have a more experimental approach. Family animation projects and classic documentaries won’t be accepted.
Yes, we accept resubmissions. There is a question within the application form in which the applicant can explain how their script has evolved since the previous submission.
You can apply to both Oxbelly Retreat programs, but in the event you get accepted to both, you will have to choose one program to participate in. Please note the Fiction Writers program is geared towards literature such as short stories or novels.
The program has no cost to apply and all expenses for fellows, including flights, accommodation and meals, are covered by Oxbelly.
Applicants must lead the visa process with their respective embassy in their country of residence. Oxbelly will provide necessary documentation to aid in the procurement of visas including but not limited to recommendation letters, provision of evidence of accommodation at the retreat resort, as well as the letter of admittance to the retreat.
2025 Fellows
Angola
Fradique is an Angolan filmmaker and curator, acclaimed for AIR CONDITIONER (MUBI, 2021), a poetic blend of dystopia, sci-fi, and magic realism. A passionate advocate for Global South cinema, he has served on selection committees for Berlinale (Panorama) and Locarno (Open Doors), and has mentored emerging filmmakers through the European Film Market and Rough Cut Lab. He is a member of the Science New Wave and a fellow of Global Media Makers and Film Independent. In 2023, he received the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship to develop his new feature, HOLD TIME FOR ME.
Lebanon/USA
Vatche Boulghourjian’s debut feature TRAMONTANE premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, screened at over a hundred festivals, and received multiple awards before its theatrical release in several territories. He holds an MFA from the NYU Graduate Film Program, and his thesis film premiered at Cannes in the Cinéfondation Selection. He has worked as a cameraman on documentaries across the Middle East for networks including the BBC and PBS. His work also includes experimental films and video installations that were exhibited at venues worldwide, such as IDFA and the 7e Manifestation Internationale Vidéo et Art Électronique in Montreal. He is an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the Venice Biennale College Cinema. His recent projects include a six-hour film on oral histories of Byblos and a six-hour installation on archaeological excavations of Bronze Age hypogea.
Greece
Vassilis Danellis was born in 1982 in Athens and lives in Istanbul. He is a writer, and his published work includes four novels and a short story collection, as well as several short stories for various collective publications. Some of his novels were nominated for some of the most prestigious national awards, including the best novel of the year, while two of them are translated in Turkish. Besides his novels, some of his short stories are also translated into English, French, German, Turkish, Slovenian and Japanese. He has also edited two short stories collections and translated a novel and several short stories from Turkish to Greek
Panama
Ana Endara is a Panamanian filmmaker who made her fiction debut in 2024 with QUERIDO TRÓPICO, a film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and San Sebastián. It went on to screen at major festivals including Rome, Gothenburg, Havana, Hong Kong, and Rio. The film received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Coup de Cœur at Cinélatino, Toulouse; the Golden Gate Cine Latino Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival; the Audience Award at the Biarritz Amérique Latine Festival; and the award for Best Direction at the Kolkata International Film Festival. She previously directed four acclaimed documentaries: CURUNDÚ, REINAS, THE JOY OF SOUND, and FOR YOUR PEACE OF MIND, MAKE YOUR OWN MUSEUM (co-directed with Pilar Moreno). Ana studied Social Sciences and later trained in Film Directing at EICTV in Cuba Ana is currently developing her second fiction feature, VICTORIA EN LAS NUBES.
Malaysia
Amanda Nell Eu is a filmmaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her debut feature film TIGER STRIPES was the Grand Prize winner of Semaine de la Critique in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. This marked several firsts as the first Malaysian film directed by a female to premiere at Cannes, and the first Malaysian film to win a top prize at Cannes. The film was also the official Malaysian submission for the Academy Awards in 2023. Amanda graduated from the London Film School with an MA in Filmmaking and is an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Tokyo Talents and Locarno Filmmakers Academy. Her short film IT’S EASIER TO RAISE CATTLE premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival and received a Special Mention at the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand. She has also served as a jury member in various film festivals and mentored film workshops within Southeast Asia.
Argentina
Matías Fernández Burzaco is the author of the books Formas propias (Tusquets, Planeta) and Los despiertos (ORSAI). He has a strange skin disease -the only case in Argentina- and lives in a body of constant extreme fiction. He walks in a wheelchair and at night he sleeps with a mask so as not to drown. Leila Guerriero was the editor of his first book (Formas propias) and Mariana Enríquez was the editor of his second (Los despiertos). He published his chronicles in BBC Mundo, Gatopardo, La Agenda, La Nación, Página 12. He has collaborated in film scripts with Lorenzo Ferro and Martín Fisner. He starred in SIEMPRE ES DE NOCHE, a film by Luis Ortega.
Greece
Yorgos Goussis was born in Athens in 1986 and works as a director and comic book artist. He is mainly known for the graphic novel adaptation of Erotokritos by Vincenzo Kornaros, the graphic novel Bandits and the graphic novel Festival, an anniversary comic for the 60th birthday of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Between 2017-2019, he was editor-in-chief of the comic magazine Blue Comet. Since 2019, he has been directing films. His debut film MAGNETIC FIELDS, won all the major Greek Cinema awards at 2022 and it was Greece’s official selection for Oscar’s Foreign Language film.
Argentina/Italy
Federico Luis was born in Buenos Aires in 1990. He holds a degree in Social Communication Sciences from UBA (University of Buenos Aires). His first feature film, SIMÓN DE LA MONTAÑA, won the Grand Prix at La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Film in the Cinevision Competition at the Munich Film Festival, Best Film at El Cairo Film Festival Critics Week and Best First Feature at the International Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana in 2024. In 2023, he received the Best Short Film award at IDFA in Amsterdam for EN EL MISMÍSIMO MOMENTO. His short film LA SIESTA had its international premiere in the Official Competition at Cannes 2019, won Best Short Film at BAFICI, and received an honorable mention at TIFF. He is currently developing his second feature film, EL ENTRENADOR DE PERROS, written with Matías Fernández Burzaco and Agustín Toscano.
Spain
Pilar Moreno is a filmmaker and visual artist. She has a background as a psychiatrist, with training in clinical psychoanalysis and Narrative Practices. As a writer she has worked on different hybrid projects, exploring territories of encounter between documentary and fiction. She wrote the film that was her directorial debut, the hybrid documentary FOR YOUR PEACE OF MIND, MAKE YOUR OWN MUSEUM, a film premiered at IDFA Envision Competition 2021 and selected in numerous festivals around the world, such as HotDocs, Doc NYC, Guadalajalara IFF, FICCI Cartagena, Malaga IFF, MIFF among many others, winning several international awards. She has co-written the fiction QUERIDO TRÓPICO (directed by Ana Endara), premiered at TIFF 2024 and San Sebastian film that is touring renowned festivals, receiving numerous awards in this trajectory. Originally from Spain, she lives and works in Panama.
Ukraine
Christina grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine. At the age of 19 she moved to London where she studied film at the University of the Arts and the University of Westminster. Her debut feature HOW IS KATIA? premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival (2022) and received two awards. A Berlinale Talents alumna, she has taken part in numerous professional workshops, including Midpoint, MFI, EAVE, Less Is More, among others. She is also a member of the European Film Academy.
Germany/Austria
David Vajda is a writer and director based in Berlin and Vienna. He holds a BA in Philosophy from University College London and an MPhil in International Relations & Politics from the University of Cambridge, supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Foundation. He writes in both English and German, and has published journalism and short stories in The Guardian, Edit, Reportagen, and the FT Weekend Magazine. In 2021, he completed his first nationally funded film JESUS EGON CHRISTUS, co-directed with his brother Saša Vajda. It premiered at the 71st Berlinale and was subsequently screened at IFFR Rotterdam and numerous other festivals. David is currently writing a feature set in the US, supported by development funding from the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Culture. He is also working on his first novel, which will be published by Hanser Berlin in 2026.
2026 Advisors
View Previous Advisors
Program Director
Born in 1977 in Bucharest (Romania), Radu Jude started out as an assistant director, then directed several short films before moving on to feature films with THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD. He then made other feature films including AFERIM!, SCARRED HEARTS, UPPERCASE PRINT among others. Jude’s BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2021, followed by DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD, which won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno 2023 and KONTINENTAL ‘25, screened at Berlinale this year. His latest feature film DRACULA premiered at the 78th Locarno Film Festival.
Program Manager
Carolina Demopoulos studied film in Paris, before moving to London to become an assistant producer in TV news and documentaries. In 2015 she started working as an assistant to producer Paulo Branco at Alfama films in Paris before completing the Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris, a Media programme for European producers. From 2016 until 2020 she worked for French production company Ecce Films to strengthen and expand the company's international co-productions. Among the films she produced during her time at Ecce is Konstantina Kotzamani's ELECTRIC SWAN which premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2019 and went on to win many awards including the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics’ Best Short Film Award. Carolina joined Oxbelly in September 2022 and manages the Screenwriters & Episodic Programs.