The organization behind the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has selected eight participants for its 2023 Writers’ Studio class to support the development of feature-film scripts.

Teyama Alkamli, Berkley Brady, Harry Cepka, Luis De Filippis, Idil Ibrahim, Aaron Lucas, Nesaru Tchaas and Farida Zahran will take part in the 12th edition of the five-day intensive lab, which runs March 20 to 24 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Five writers from the 2023 class will also receive a grant supported by Chanel to further the development of their feature-length script: Alkamli, Brady, De Filippis, Ibrahim and Zahran.

Brady has also been chosen as the recipient of the Renee Perlmutter Memorial Fellowship for Literary Adaptation, according to a news release. Now in its second year, the fellowship provides one writer focusing on adapting a literary work for the screen with an additional grant toward developing their project. Brady’s adaptation is from the novel The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson.

TIFF’s Writers’ Studio lab is for Canadian and international screenwriters and writer-directors.

Participants from Canada include Alkamli, who will be in the lab with My Name is Jala and won Best Documentary Program at the 2021 Canadian Screen Awards for Hockey Mom; Brady, who has written for television and short films including Dark Nature, with the aforementioned The Summer of Bitter and Sweet; and Cepka, whose feature film Raf premiered at TIFF in 2019, with The Good Life.

De Filippis, a Canadian-Italian filmmaker whose debut feature Something You Said Last Night received the TIFF Changemaker Award last year, will be in the lab with L’estate.

U.S. participants include Ibrahim, who is a director for Queen Latifah’s Queen Collective program and will be in the lap developing From a Crooked Rib; and Tchaas, whose short Some Still Search (2022) is Oscar-qualified and will develop White Rabbits.

Australian-German writer-director Lucas, whose feature-length documentary I’ll Be Frank won the First Prize Hearts Minds Soul Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, will be developing Luna; while Egyptian writer-director Zahran, who wrote on the acclaimed TV series Ramy (A24 & Hulu), will be in the lab with The Leftover Ladies.

This year’s lab had more than 200 submissions from around the world, said the release. Participants will undergo workshops with filmmakers and industry experts including Ashley Comeau, Brad Fraser, Marilyn McCallum and Anthony Shim, writer-director of Canadian Screen Award-nominated Riceboy Sleeps.

International story consultants Andrew Ahn, Trey Ellis, Christina Lazaridi and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith will offer one-on-one discussions.

Canadian Film Centre CBC Actors Conservatory alums Getenesh Berhe, Vivien Endicott-Douglas and Araya Mengesha will join for a table read of the projects in development.

Pictured (L-R): Teyama Alkamli, Berkley Brady, Harry Cepka, Luis De Filippis (top), Idil Ibrahim, Aaron Lucas, Nesaru Tchaas and Farida Zahran (bottom)