Call for Participation 

Screenwriting Workshop with Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia

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.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn directly from the directors of internationally acclaimed films such as Salvo, Sicilian letters, Sicilian Ghost Stories.

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 requirements, contact : industry@metropoliscinema.net

*Personal data will be processed by the Italian Cultural Institute of Beirut in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data will be handled lawfully, fairly, and transparently, and will not be shared with third parties.

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)