Dear Screen Institute Community,

September has been a busy month at the International Screen Institute! From our Sustainability Management programme to upcoming opportunities and new collaborations, here are the latest updates from ISI and our partners.

• Last chance: Apply until 5 October for Future Ready & Hands-on A.I. Producers Lab

• Co-Producing out of Austria – Industry Talk @ Market Ready

• Open Online Session @ Business and Legal Affairs: This is the Way! From Writer to Showrunner – by Kai May

• Inspirational Lab @ When East Meets West 2027: Sustainable Leadership

• Les Arcs Industry Village 2026 – Special Offer for ISI Alumni Producers

• Recap: Sustainability Management 2026

• ProPro 2027 received the Eurimages Patronage

• Kreativwirtschaft Austria

• News from our Partners & Friends

Last chance to apply until 5 October: Future Ready & Hands-on A.I. Producers Lab

Applications are still open for our upcoming Future Ready and Hands-on A.I. Producers Lab programmes.

The two programmes are designed to complement each other: Future Ready offers inspiration, orientation and strategic perspectives through panel talks, case studies and lectures, while the Hands-on A.I. Producers Lab provides a practical follow-up where producers can experiment with tools and workflows and further develop ideas introduced during Future Ready or the EAVE AI Skills Booster.

Apply for both programmes and benefit from our package offer.

Scholarships available! Make sure to check our Financial Support Guide.

We appreciate all our partners who make these programmes possible — Belvedere for its collaboration on Future Ready, and EAVE together with FAMA – Film and Music Austria for our partnership on the Hands-on A.I. Producers Lab.

 Applications close on 5 October 2026!

Open Online Session: This is the Way! From Writer to Showrunner

Join us for an open online session with Kai May, Programme Director of our Business & Legal Affairs programme and lawyer and partner at Unverzagt Rechtsanwälte.

The session will explore the legal side of showrunning, looking at the financing and exploitation landscape for TV series and the ways writers can protect and monetise the intellectual property they create.

Kai will also talk about how writers can retain greater influence over the development of scripts and creative elements of a series — and what this can mean for taking on the role of a showrunner.

6 October 2026 | 16:00–17:30 CEST | Online (Zoom)

Co-Producing out of Austria: Industry Talk @ Market Ready

As part of our Market Ready programme in October, there will be an open Industry Talk, where professionals from the Austrian film-industry are invited to join. Participants expand their professional network and valuable space for exchange and collaboration is created.

The panel with Lixi Frank (Panama Film) and Anne Laurent-Delage (Austrian Films) will explore co-producing out of Austria. Lixi will talk about building European co-productions from Austria: how partners find each other, how financing comes together, when sales and distribution come on board, and which strategies worked and which didn’t. Anne Laurent-Delage will outline the opportunities and support available for producers and filmmakers working with Austria.

Details: 20 October 2026 | 18:00 | Hotel Schani Hbf (Karl-Popper-Straße 22, 1100 Wien), afterwards networking drinks and snacks

Les Arcs Industry Village 2026 – Special Offer for ISI Alumni Producers

Our partnership with Les Arcs Industry Village gives 2 ISI alumni the opportunity to join Les Arcs Industry Village from 12–15 December 2026 without a project for a special rate of 300€ for Arc 2000 and 400€ for Arc 1950.

This opportunity is for producers looking to expand their network and meet with the selected projects of the Coproduction Village. Selected ISI producers will benefit from 3 nights’ accommodation, access to professional meetings and events, a one-day ski pass, and shuttle transport from Geneva Airport or Bourg-Saint-Maurice train station, at this special alumni rate. 

The Industry Village brings together more than 600 professionals from across Europe through the Coproduction Village, Work in Progress and Talent Village — making it a great place to meet producers, discover new projects and build new connections in the industry.

How to apply: Please send a few words (about half a page) about your company, your involvement in the European film industry, and your motivations for attending Les Arcs Industry Village 2026 to industry@lesarcsff.com with the subject line “ISI / Les Arcs 2026“, by October 13th. Please note that you’ll be applying without a project, and that the main purpose of your participation would be to meet with the selected projects of Les Arcs.

Applications are open until 13 October 2026.

Inspirational Lab @ When East Meets West 2027: Sustainable Leadership

We’re excited to continue our collaboration with When East Meets West with Sustainable Leadership, a three-day Inspirational Lab taking place in Trieste in January 2027.

Designed for women leading independent film production companies, the Lab focuses on three interconnected challenges: strengthening leadership, preventing burnout and supporting mental wellbeing, and building more sustainable businesses.

Through expert input by Katherine Dennis Gonzalez (Expanding Circles) and Bettina Brokemper (Heimatfilm), practical tools and peer exchange, participants will develop actionable strategies to strengthen their creative, professional and personal resilience.

17–19 January 2027 | Trieste, Italy

Applications are open until 30 October 2026!

Recap: Sustainability Management

Last week, we welcomed 19 film and TV professionals from across Europe and beyond to Vienna for our Sustainability Management programme.

Over five days, participants explored sustainability across the audiovisual sector — from greener production practices, carbon calculation and energy planning to climate storytelling, social sustainability, leadership, diversity and wellbeing.

Together with our Programme Directors, experts and participants, we looked at how environmental, social, economic and cultural considerations can become an integral part of creative and professional practice.

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of welcoming Zuzana Bieliková (Slovak Film Commission), Eszter Lányi (National Film Institute, Hungary), and Juliane Buchroithner (ABA – Film in Austria) for a Film Fund Panel on how to guide the film industry toward a greener future. We therefore want to thank ABA – Film in Austria for our ongoing partnership.

As part of the programme, we hosted the Industry Talk “On Sovereignty and Self-Determination – What Makes a European Film?” with Victoria Thomas (ARTEF) and Vera Lacková (Media Voice) in partnership with FAMA – Film and Music in Austria and D–Arts Projektbüro für Diversität. The panel talk explored who gets to shape the stories recognised as European cinema, and how access, representation and industry structures influence whose stories become visible.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to such an inspiring week!

ProPro 2027: Eurimages Patronage

We’re delighted and honoured to share that ProPro 2027 has been granted the Eurimages Patronage for gender, diversity and inclusion by the Council of Europe.

ProPro – The Producers Programme for Women is a mentorship and workshop programme for women producers focusing on leadership, strategy, and resilience. The Eurimages patronage reflects ProPro’s alignment with the objectives of Eurimages and its commitment to strengthening the European audiovisual sector.

We’re very pleased to receive this recognition and look forward to sharing more about ProPro 2027 soon!

Kreativwirtschaft Austria

We are very delighted that ISI is featured on the map of KAT – Kreativwirtschaft Austria as a training institute for the audiovisual sector.

KAT also hosts the Creative Transformation Summit 2026 (#CTS26) on 19 November, online. Now in its sixth edition, the event brings companies together with the innovation and transformation expertise of the creative industries.

There are also Creative Industries Handbooks available in german. These handbooks provide practical business know-how for creative professionals and cover topics such as entrepreneurship, financing, collaboration, client management, and intellectual property.

Les Arcs Work in Progress – Call for Projects

Also check this opportunity to submit a project for the Les Arcs Work in Progress Call. Around 12 projects will be selected to present excerpts from their films during the Industry Village in front of sales agents, distributors, festival programmers and other industry professionals.

If you have a European project currently in post-production, it’s a great opportunity to introduce your project to the international industry while it is still taking shape.

Applications are open until 14 October 2026, 19:00 CEST!

When East Meets West – Submissions open

Check out the new round of Calls at When East Meets West 2027:

• LAST STOP TRIESTE and THIS IS IT – WIPs sections for feature films in post-production

• EAVE Slate – a workshop on strategic company planning

• 8 INSPIRATIONAL LABS to develop new content and explore new business models (including one Inspirational Lab in partnership with ISI)

• FILMS x GAMES CONNECTION HUB for game developers and film producers

  
  

If you wish to get more details, you can check out their website and/or join the WEMW Info Session on Tuesday, 6 October 14.00 to 15.00 (CEST).

Applications are open until 30 October 2026, 23:59 CET.

Introducing Climate Storytelling in V4 — Prague

What stories do we tell in a changing climate? We’re happy to share Introducing Climate Storytelling in V4, a two-day international training and networking programme taking place in Prague this November.

Bringing together 40 film and media students, professionals, educators and researchers from Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the programme explores how climate, nature and environmental change can become part of contemporary film and television storytelling — through characters, conflicts, settings, genres and the worlds we create on screen.

Across two days, participants will take part in practical workshops, expert sessions, case studies, a mentorship clinic and a V4 industry round table, connecting creative approaches to storytelling with the wider transition towards a more environmentally responsible audiovisual sector.

Participation is free, meals are covered, and accommodation subsidies are available for selected eligible participants. Participants need to arrange their own travel.

Details: 25–26 November 2026 | FAMU, Prague | In English

Applications are open until 31 October 2026, midnight CEST.

filmKULTUR 2026

If you’re in or around Vienna on 15 October, come by at filmKULTUR 2026. The event focuses on the current changes shaping the film industry: practical, future-oriented, and in direct dialogue with experts.

Two workshops will provide practical tools for day-to-day work, focusing on leadership and feedback culture. In the evening, the Impulse Forum will turn its attention to current developments in streaming, artificial intelligence, value creation, and the future of film production.

Together with experts from film production, technology, and industry advocacy, it will be discussed how production conditions, financing, and distribution are evolving, and what opportunities these changes may create for film professionals.

Details: 15 October 2026 I Workshops: 14:00-17:00 & Keynote and Impulse Forum: 17:30-19:30 I WKW (Straße der Wiener Wirtschaft 1 , 1020 Wien)

Elisabeth-Büttner-Stipendium

The Elisabeth-Büttner-Stipendium for Film Culture is aimed at curators, archivists, programmers, scholars, and educators working in the field of film and cinema.

Applications may be submitted for projects in the areas of film preservation, film heritage, film programming, and curatorship that contribute to Austrian film culture, are grounded in an in-depth engagement with Austrian film history and film theory, and seek to critically reassess images.

Projects may take place in Austria or abroad and may be carried out in connection with a film-cultural institution, such as an archive, cinema, film festival, or similar organization.

Thank you for reading! Let’s stay connected to learn and train together in Vienna and around the world.

International Screen Institute is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA Sub-programme of the European Union, ÖFI, Terra Mater Studios, Satel Film, UNVERZAGT Rechtsanwälte.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.