The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has selected six participants for its 2024 Writers’ Studio.

The five-day lab is aimed at supporting Canadian and international screenwriters and filmmakers developing feature film scripts. It includes workshops, mentorships, and one-on-one project development consultations led by industry experts.

Five of the selected writers are from Canada, including Amy Trefry, Rebecca Fisseha, Aram Collier, Sophie Jarvis and Playback 10 to Watch alum Asia Youngman. U.K.-based Zhannat Alshanova is the international participant. The 13th edition of the lab runs from April 15 to 19 at TIFF Lightbox.

This year, the program is introducing the Sloan Science and Technology Writer Fellowship, which will provide a project development grant and creative support to one emerging to mid-level feature film screenwriter whose project explores themes of science and technology.

Trefry is the first recipient of the fellowship for their project Lenin’s Embalmers, co-written with playwright Vern Thiessen. Trefry is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre and was selected as one of ten emerging Canadian Television Producers by RDV Canada in 2021.

Ethiopian-Canadian writer Fisseha is the recipient of the Renee Perlmutter Memorial Fellowship for Literary Adaptation, which provides an additional grant to a Writers’ Studio participant adapting a literary work for the screen. Fisseha is developing an adaptation of her own debut novel, Daughters of Silence.

Toronto-based Collier is developing Intro to Swimming. His Asian diasporic stories explore issues of race and class.

Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Jarvis, whose feature debut Until Branches Bend was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, is developing Taking the Waters.

Indigenous filmmaker Youngman (Cree, Metis and Haudenosaunee) is developing Until It’s Time to Go. She co-wrote, co-directed, and executive produced the documentary I’m Just Here for the Riot (2023) for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. Other works include the short films N’xaxaitk’w (2022) and This Ink Runs Deep (2019), both of which premiered at TIFF.

Alshanova, who is originally from Kazakhstan, is developing Present Perfect. Her short films have screened at TIFF, Cannes, Sundance and Locarno.

Four participants from this cohort will also receive additional support to develop their script through a Chanel Women Creators’ Network grant.

Trey Ellis and Christina Lazaridi are this year’s international story consultants. Other filmmakers taking part in daily artists talks and workshops include Ashley Comeau, Brad Fraser, Howard Wiseman and Emma Donoghue. Canadian actors Getenesh Berhe, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, Thomas Antony Olajide and Ajuawak Kapashesit will also join for a full-day workshop of the projects in development.

The participants for the 13th edition of the Writers’ Studio were selected from more than 200 submissions.

Photos courtesy of TIFF; pictured (L-R): Amy Trefry, Rebecca Fisseha, Aram Collier (top); Sophie Jarvis, Asia Youngman and Zhannat Alshanova (bottom)