For film and series projects at any point of development.
Six weeks to move a project to its next stage through expert outside eyes, concentrated work, group process, hospitality and a setting built for focus.
The lab is for writers, writer-directors and directors who need real working time, demanding but constructive outside input, creative sparks, structure and a group capable of moving the work forward.
Individual script doctoring, high-level mentoring and structured group processes are combined with concentrated individual work. Support is available for blockages, rhythm and work structure. The aim is practical: leave with the next stage of development defined and substantially advanced.
Each participant has a private room and a dedicated workplace. Full board includes carefully prepared meals, drinks and shared tables throughout the stay.
The library, salons, quiet corners, park and lake offer different rhythms for writing, conversation, retreat, screenings and informal exchange.
The mentors combine festival prestige, institutional authority and extensive practical experience as producers, filmmakers, writers, teachers and dramaturgs.
Founder of ma.ja.de. and one of Europe’s major independent producers: more than 100 award-winning documentaries, Oscar-nominated work, and fiction films awarded in Venice and Cannes. His collaborators include Sergei Loznitsa, Ai Weiwei, Viktor Kossakovsky, Thomas Heise and Ulrike Ottinger.
Chair of Graduate Film at NYU Tisch. Her films have screened at Toronto, Cannes and San Sebastián; Nobody’s Watching won Best Actor at Tribeca.
Professor and Area Head of Screenwriting at NYU Tisch Dramatic Writing. She wrote Monsoon Wedding, winner of the Golden Lion in Venice, and has worked as a screenwriter in the United States and Bollywood for two decades.
Writer-director whose debut Daas won the Andrzej Munk Award and whose Werewolf won Best Director in Gdynia. His Netflix thrillers Colors of Evil: Red and Black became international hits.
Head of the Film Department at the Iceland University of the Arts and founder of Iceland’s first university-level BA programme in filmmaking.
CEO of Blinker Filmproduktion. Her recent work includes Sleep With Your Eyes Open, winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in Berlinale Encounters.
Writer-director and Columbia graduate. His feature Mike won Best Screenplay at Max Ophüls; his commercial work received a Cannes Bronze Lion.
More than two decades in development, dramaturgy and financing for auteur documentaries and art-house features. Her therapeutic training informs group work on process, collaboration and creative blocks.
Görlitz lies in the German–Polish–Czech border region, within reach of Dresden, Wrocław, Prague and Berlin. The lab connects concentrated work at Schloss Klingewalde with regional industry conversations, film events and local partners.
The house, park and lake provide distance from daily routines without isolating participants from the wider film ecosystem.
Local partners contribute encounters, events and connections during the lab.
Caterina Klusemann is an award-winning filmmaker and producer. Her films have screened at Cannes Critics’ Week, and she received the Bayerischer Dokumentarfilmpreis.
She also built and ran Neandertal No. 1 as a destination for food, hospitality and cultural gatherings. At Schloss Klingewalde, she is developing a place where serious creative work is supported by structure, relaxation, conversation, inspiring surroundings and fine food.
The 2026 Writer’s Lab is the first in a planned series of labs and residencies for film and other disciplines. Creative Lab Görlitz is also open to group enquiries, workshops and tailored formats.
The fee includes accommodation, food and drinks, script doctoring, group work and selected events.
Partial stays and participation without accommodation can be arranged where appropriate.
We are actively seeking sponsors so that writers can attend at no cost. If financing is the obstacle, contact us anyway; lack of funds should not prevent a strong project from being considered.
English is an advantage; participation in English and German will be possible. Selected applicants will be consulted individually so the programme can be fitted to the needs of the project.
Application deadline: 15 September 2026