Verzió DocLab, an intensive creative documentary development workshop, is now accepting applications until 31 July 2025 for its 10th edition, taking place from 8 to 12 November in Budapest, at the Central European University campus.
Designed for directors and teams working on their first or second feature-length documentaries, the workshop focuses on story development and scene editing. The programme concludes with a public presentation of selected scenes to an audience of festival programmers, sales agents, and producers.
The DocLab is part of the industry programme of the Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, with a selection process that emphasises social relevance and a human rights perspective.
The initiative is powered by the Doc Around Europe network, which brings together six key documentary film festivals: FIPADOC, DOK.fest München, DocsBarcelona, MakeDox, Biografilm Festival, and Verzió. In 2025, guest festivals Porto/Post/Doc and DocPoint Helsinki join the network, broadening the promotion of new talents from Portugal and Finland.
Eligible participants include filmmakers with projects in development from the countries represented by the network. Selected teams may also take part in the festival’s Verzió Young Critics programme and Doc Future Competition.
The participation fee is 200 euros per person, covering mentoring, travel, accommodation, and meals. Applicants are encouraged to seek training support through their national film funds.
For full details and application form, visit: verzio.org/en/doclab.
