Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab
Congratulations to the Grad Film alumni who were selected for the 2025 Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab!
The Storylines Lab is designed for narrative feature film projects at an early stage of development, from early concept to treatment stage. The lab gives independent filmmakers from around the world the opportunity to work intensively on the creative development of their projects in an environment structured to foster professional collaboration and high-quality project development.
Participants
Alle Hsu
Beach House [co-written with Jake Lee Hanne] — Left alone at her family’s remote beach house, Chinese-American teenager Olivia struggles to navigate an unfamiliar town, finding comfort in a local boy — until their relationship turns dangerous. As strange occurrences mount and reality distorts, she spirals into a mysterious search for identity and truth.
Sofia Camargo
Madeja — After leaving the city for a secluded Colombian country house, a mother escaping her marriage and her teenage daughter become entangled in their young housekeeper’s secret pregnancy. As their uneasy alliance forms, class divides and societal expectations threaten to tear them apart.
Abigail Prade
Er Tin Tin — Suriname, 1982. Amidst the political turmoil of a military dictatorship, a family tries to maintain a semblance of normalcy while living under challenging conditions. Drawing from the tradition of oral storytelling, this film weaves together different stories from folklore and Surinamese history, while centering the experiences of one family in the 1980s. In doing so, it explores the painful history of a country that has been marked by colonialism.
Cheryl Wong
Nineteen, Monsoon — A teenager’s innocent wish to escape her suffocating life leads her to infiltrate her estranged father’s family — only to discover some doors are better left unopened.
For the full list of participants check out Cine Qua Non Lab.