South African filmmaker and writer Phumi Morare has been selected as one of four African screenwriters for the 2026 AuthenticA Series Lab.
The programme gives writers space, mentorship and industry access to develop original television concepts for the international market.
Morare’s selection comes amid growing opportunities for African film and television talent to connect, exchange skills and reach international audiences.
Recent developments include the Jozi Film Festival’s Saudi tie-up, which will bring Saudi Film Nights to Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town from October 8 to 14, 2026.
The AuthenticA Series Lab adds another dimension to that exchange. It brings four African women writers and filmmakers together for a six-month development programme spanning Ethiopia, Switzerland and France.
The writers will develop their projects before pitching them to international industry players in France.
The Realness Institute, in partnership with The StoryBoard Collective and supported by the Canada Media Fund and the Series Mania Forum, confirmed Morare’s selection alongside Lagos-based writer, director and cinematographer Lateefah Mayaki, Ghanaian-Canadian writer and filmmaker Lindsey Addawoo and Cameroonian-born writer, filmmaker and cultural entrepreneur Sahndra Fon Dufe.
Morare is an NAACP Image Award-winning and Oscar-shortlisted South African writer and director.
Her short film “Lakutshon’ Ilanga (When The Sun Sets)” won an NAACP Image Award and a Student Academy Award Gold Medal, and was shortlisted for the 94th Academy Awards.
The film premiered at festivals including Telluride and Clermont-Ferrand and was acquired by WarnerMedia OneFifty.
Her latest project, Why The Cattle Wait, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival and ARIFF Film Festival.
Morare is also a Tribeca Chanel and Berlinale Talents alumna and holds an MFA in Film Directing from Chapman University.
AuthenticA Series Lab 2026 brings four African screenwriters together
This year’s all-female cohort will develop a professionally packaged pitch deck and a completed pilot script.
The writers will retain full intellectual property rights over the work they create through the programme.
The lab opened with an eight-day residency in Ethiopia from September 17–25, 2026. Online sessions will continue until January 14, 2027.
A second in-person residency will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from January 19 to March 21, 2027.
The writers will then travel to Lille, France, from March 22 to 26, 2027, to pitch their projects at the African Series Pitch during the Series Mania Forum.
The forum is Europe’s largest co-production series market and festival, bringing together talent scouts, sales agents, broadcasters, investors and distributors.
Phumi Morare and the 2026 AuthenticA writers
Mehret Mandefro, Director of Producing and Showrunning, and Selina Ukwuoma, Director of Writing Programmes, are mentoring the writers throughout the six-month programme.
“We need to write a new world, and that begins with supporting fresh voices that have something to say,” says Mandefro.
Ukwuoma says this year’s group offers “a glimpse into four more fascinating worlds we have not yet encountered on screen.”
The StoryBoard Collective founder David Rimer says the initiative reflects a broader mission to support support African storytellers and bring their work to international audiences.
“Through AuthenticA, we are proud to support African storytellers whose diverse voices and bold stories strengthen the global conversation and bring truly international content to the fore,” says Rimer.
The 2026 AuthenticA Series Lab received 144 applications from more than 27 countries, covering more than 20 television genres.
For more information and updates on the AuthenticA Series Lab, visit the Realness Institute website.
