Italian director Paolo Sorrentino will lead a film creation residency in Argentine Patagonia for 50 filmmakers from around the world.

Organized by Playlab Films, the 10-day Creators Lab will span from December 1 to 11 at Rotui Luxury Village in San Martín de los Andes, Río Negro. Past mentors of the program include German legend Werner Herzog and Cannes’ Palm d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

An Oscar winner for The Great Beauty, Sorrentino recently opened the 82nd Venice Film Festival with his latest film, La grazia, a drama centered on euthanasia starring Tony Servillo. His 2021 autobiographical tale The Hand of God was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars and won the Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award in Venice. 

During the lab, participants are expected to take on every role in the making of their own short film: directing, camera, sound, and editing, under everyday guidance from Paolo Sorrentino and the Playlab Films team. 

Participants will receive a casting list of local non-professional and professional actors. They will also have access to a curated list of shooting locations with historical and cultural context, as well as filming permits to shoot on location in Patagonia. 

At the end of the residency, ten short films will be selected for international festival distribution. All 50 participants will be invited to submit feature film or series proposals to an internal Playlab Films call, from which two projects will be chosen for development and production support.

The program’s €7,500 fee includes a 12-day, 11-night full-board stay at Rotui, as well as internal transfers to and from Chapelco Airport – Aviador Carlos Campos. The international call went out on August 21 and is open to filmmakers and audiovisual creators from anywhere in the world. The application’s deadline is September 21, 2025.