Our 26th Annual HIFF Screenwriters Lab took place over the weekend, where we were thrilled to welcome our outstanding fellows Chloe Abrahams, Jason Adam Maselle, and Katla Sólnes, our talented mentors Cory Finley, Noah Stahl, and Lab alum Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs, 2016), as well as all the guests who celebrated these new voices with us.
Mentors and fellows arrived at the Maidstone Hotel on Friday, getting to know each other over cocktails before sitting down to a welcome dinner hosted by Board Vice Chair Kim Brizzolara at Nick & Toni’s, joined also by former Lab mentors Terry George and Michael H. Weber.
On Saturday morning, they launched into a busy day of productive and enlightening one-on-one mentor sessions, where each screenwriting fellow was able to intensively workshop their screenplay with each mentor. With remarkably beautiful weather, some elected to conduct their workshops on Main Beach!
That evening, our gracious HIFF patrons Alan Ceppos and Frédéric Rambaud hosted the annual celebratory Lab dinner in their beautiful home, where our fellows were able to mix and mingle with local members of the Hamptons artistic community and various board members and special guests, all while enjoying Alan and Frédéric’s remarkable art collection.
The Lab concluded on Sunday afternoon with a lively, thoughtful, and collaborative group session, while the writers remained in East Hampton to enjoy a few more days of writing time. We offer our many thanks to our generous mentors for the invaluable insights they provided to these young artists! And of course now we are all rooting for our screenwriters as they take their excellent scripts on their next steps towards production. Stay tuned…
2026 Mentors
- Cory Finley (BAD EDUCATION, THOROUGHBREDS)
- Noah Stahl (THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT, REALITY)
- Cathy Yan (DEAD PIGS, BIRDS OF PREY, THE GALLERIST)
2026 Selected Screenplays
- Before the Echo Makes a Sound, by Chloe Abrahams
- Punter, by Jason Adam Maselle
- Eruption, by Katla Sólnes
• • Learn more about our Lab participants and their projects.
Katla Sólnes received the 2026 Melissa Mathison Award for her screenplay Eruption. Established in 2016 and named for the late, beloved Oscar®-nominated screenwriter, this award strives to foster the continued development of female writers. HamptonsFilm will host a staged reading of selected scenes from Katla’s screenplay in winter 2027 for invited guests from the entertainment industry. Previous recipients include completed feature films from Annabelle Attanasio (MICKEY AND THE BEAR), and Cathy Yan (DEAD PIGS).
• • Learn more about the Melissa Mathison Award and find out how you can contribute.
