Evolution Mallorca Script Lab Pitches Returns With Oscar-Winning Jury

This year’s Evolution Mallorca, held on the Spanish island between Oct. 28 and NoV. 4, is bringing back Evolution Pitch, the pitching component of its Script Lab program as part of the festival’s 15th edition.

“It was a dream of mine to bring it back this year,” Evolution Mallorca founder Sandra Lipski tells Variety. “The pitch is very interesting and an opportunity for us to create even more chances for filmmakers to connect and for those who are ready to shoot their next feature to find the support of established filmmakers.”

The Evolution Pitch is an international pitching event for feature film projects. Each selected project has five minutes to present to a panel of international film professionals, including producers, directors, and financiers. The event opens doors to development, financing, co-production, and industry support. The winning project receives a one-year subscription to Largo.ai.

The pitch jury is composed of two-time Academy Award-winning producer Kim Magnusson (“I’m Not a Robot,” “Helium”), whose film “Family” is screening at the festival; “Sirāt” producer Xavi Font; director Russell Goldman, who’s also in Mallorca with “Sender;” writer-director Gabriela Ortega (“Huella”), screening “Marga en el DF” at the festival; producer and former director of the Mallorca Film Commission Pedro Barbadillo; founder and CEO of Largo.ai Sami Arpa and screenwriter and director Bora Dagtekin (“Turkish for Beginners”).

“We asked all projects on Script Lab to send us a pitch deck, and then we chose seven projects from that,” Lipski says of the process. “We were very specific with the requirements; they needed to have a full deck and already be on a certain level where they could present the projects to producers. There are certain guidelines you need when presenting your film to Oscar-winning producers.”

Lipski was inspired to bring the pitch back to Evolution after participating in the pitching session at Portugal’s Fest – New Directors/New Films Festival. “I went over the summer, and I was so inspired sitting there. I felt like I needed to bring it back to Mallorca.”

“And we had so many great Script Lab submissions, so we felt we wanted to use what we already had and amplify it,” highlights Lipski, who says a “nostalgia” theme has emerged among selected projects.

“There’s a certain nostalgia going around,” she notes. “I think we’ve been so saturated with stories about the future and how we envision the future could be. We have advanced so much in the last two years, with the whole AI boom, that I am seeing storytellers revert to more nostalgic storytelling, a lot of simple relationship and family stories. It’s like going back to the roots of what really matters, which I think is really beautiful.”

From a queer Western to an animated war film, see a full list of pitching projects at Evolution Mallorca’s Script Lab below:

“No Shade at Noon,” written by Sheila Pye and Ally Mackie

A screenwriter retreats to a secluded Mallorcan monastery in search of inspiration and uncovers Agatha Christie’s forgotten journey during her famous 1926 disappearance. As both women seek solace in the island’s haunting legends, their stories intertwine across time, revealing how betrayal and creativity can lead to murder under the Mediterranean sun. Pye is a Canadian filmmaker based in Mallorca.

“Camino,” written by Annabella Fazio

On a struggling horse-rewilding ranch, young mosaic artist Ellie is trying to rebuild her life. When Ifa, a gender-fluid cowboy, arrives looking for work, everything shifts. After a violent standoff forces them out, the two set off across the badlands, and what began as an escape becomes a dangerous test of loyalty, desire, and how far they’ll go for each other. Fazio is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who attended EMIFF last year with her short film “Scene House.” This is her first feature script.

“Under the Same Sky,” written by Isabella Rose

Annabel and Olivia set out to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to outrun grief and raise money for a cause. Weeks in, exhausted and stripped down to instinct, they spot a migrant boat from West Africa drifting on the horizon. Two very different odysseys collide in a story about endurance, privilege, and our shared humanity. Rose is a British actress and filmmaker who grew up in Mallorca.

“Demasiado Lejos” (“Too Far Away”), written by Javier Chacartegui & Lluís Ortas

After her mother dies of cancer, 13-year-old Julia and her brother Xesc move back in with their estranged father, Quim, in their old family home in Son Verí, Mallorca. A fresh start seems possible, until Julia realises her father isn’t the man she remembered. Told across three timelines, this family drama follows a daughter’s need to understand a father lost in his own grief.

“A Place to Fall,” written by Marina La Ruina

After the death of her beloved dog, Kata, a young hotel worker in Mallorca is determined to give her a proper farewell. Guided by an eccentric local woman through the Serra de Tramuntana, she sets out on a surreal journey where grief, tourism and ancient rituals intertwine.

“Flutter,” written by Núria Amigo

An animated film set in a war-torn land, six-year-old Anna climbs a hill every morning to watch a fighter jet pass, dreaming of flying away. When she meets Gata, a starving cat who shares her longing, the two leap into the void together and turn into a vibrant cloud of butterflies.

“Ones,” written by Marcos Callejos

Seventy-year-old Nofre inherits a Mallorcan llaüt, an urn of ashes and the last wish of someone he thought he’d left in the past. Driven by remorse, he sets out to restore the boat and scatter the ashes at sea. Callejos is a Mallorcan writer and director who recently produced the upcoming feature “Render,” by Goya-nominated director Toni Bestard.

And here is a list of all participating projects at Evolution Mallorca’s Script Lab:

Feature Film

“No Shade At Noon,” by Sheila Pye, Ally Mackie

“Too Far Away,” by Javier Chacártegui

“Siempre te fui Sincero,” by Mónica Mercedes Luparelli Prado

“Temporada Baja,” by Alfonso Morillas Romero

“Tenebris,” by Álvaro Benitez, Jose Redondo

“Under The Same Sky,” by Isabella Rose

“Revenga,” by Juanjo Durán, Luken Hidalgo

“The Grim Reapers,” by Marcus Kuhne, Richard Imperato

“Modern Lovers,” by Vivienne Walshe, Ben Hackworth, Lizzette Atkins

“ReBirthing Samira,” by Tara Orr Brenninkmeyer, Mala Ghedia

“Forgotten No More,” by Nahir Moreno

“The Measure of She,” by Karen Dee Carpenter

“Until The Time We Die,” by Daniel Talbott

“Camino,” by Annabella Fazio

“Sana,” by Sheida Sheikhha, Bruno Grandino

“SOS Magaluf,” by Maria Elina None

Short Film

“La Esperanta Konekto,” by Jordi Nadal Perelló

“El Vacío,” by Juan Francisco Fernández Alcalde

“Flutter,” by Nuria Amigo

“How To Bury a Dog,” by Marina La Ruina

“Someone in the Crowd,” by Pablo Valera

“OnesMarcos Callejo,” by Valèria Cuní

“Bubbles,” by Paddy C. Courtney

“Under The Surface,” by Yusup Sulimanov, Lea Maria Kruse, Hugo M. Sousa

“Lo Que Florece,” by Alycya Magaña

“Flora & Aymara,” by Samuel Flückiger

“The death of the bird,” by Myriam Garcia Marienstras

“Veneer,” by Birgitta Bernhard, Jake Canuso

“Marhaba,” by Laura McVeigh

“The Mallorca Project,” by Alex Ferrate