BrLab held its fifteenth edition in April 2026. This edition included the event’s traditional workshops and meetings – BrLab Features, BrLab Audience Design, BrLab Rough Cut, BrLab Kids, BrPlot, Reach, Think Tank Petrobras, and the BrLab Film Showcase.

The 15th edition of BrLab was presented by Petrobras and the Ministry of Culture through the Federal Law for Cultural Incentive. It had master sponsorship from Petrobras and co-sponsorship from the Programa Ibermedia, Projeto Paradiso, Spcine, and the Secretaria Municipal de Cultura e Economia Criativa de São Paulo. It was produced by Klaxon Cultura Audiovisual, directed by producer and curator Rafael Sampaio, the event’s creator.

It had the support of the Brazilian Cinematheque, the Friends of the Cinematheque Society, the French Embassy in Brazil, Grupo Vitrine Filmes, CQS/FV Advogados, Submarino Fantástico, Miração Filmes, Matilha Cultural, CineHub, comKids, Fistaile, SESC-SP, Cine Brasília, Box Cultural, the State Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of the Federal District, Cinema da Fundação and Fundação Joaquim Nabuco.

The event also benefited from institutional partnerships with API – Associação dos Produtores Independentes do Audiovisual Brasileiro (Brazilian Association of Independent Audiovisual Producers), ABRA – Associação Brasileira de Autores Roteiristas (Brazilian Association of Screenwriters), APAN – Associação de Profissionais do Audiovisual Negro (Association of Black Audiovisual Professionals), Brazilian Content, Cinema do Brasil, and SIAESP – Sindicato da Indústria Audiovisual do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State Audiovisual Industry Union), as well as collaboration with Cinema Verde, EAVE – European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs, Cinéma en Développement, PopUp Film Residency, Costa Rica Film Commission, Costa Rica Media Market, and MICPI – Mercado de Industrias Culturais de Pichincha (Pichincha Cultural Industries Market), and promotion by Canal Brasil, LatAm cinema, Revista de Cinema, Tanto Cine, and Folha de S. Paulo.

For a period of seven days, representatives of the selected projects received consulting services for their screenplays and productions provided by internationally renowned experts.

For BrLab Features, a workshop for the development of feature film projects, 12 projects were selected, representing Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and 6 Brazilian states. For BrLab Audience Design, a workshop focused on audience distribution and design, 5 projects were selected, representing Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, and 3 Brazilian states.

For BrLab Rough Cut, a workshop focused on the editing and finishing of feature films, 2 projects were selected, representing Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and the first film from Roraima in BrLab’s history.

For BrLab Kids, a groundbreaking workshop for the development of children’s and youth series and feature films in Recife, 5 projects were selected, representing 5 Brazilian states.

Another new feature of this edition was the Petrobras Think Tank, held for the first time in two locations – São Paulo and Brasília – which brought together, over four days, specialists from the Brazilian and Latin American markets in open panels and closed working groups, conducted with methodology, mediation, and articulation, with the purpose of building a manifesto to encourage the sector to incorporate new models of creation and production aligned with the preservation of the environment and natural resources, thus contributing to the industry moving towards a more sustainable work model.

The tutors included the Argentinian filmmaker Albertina Carri; the Chilean producer Giancarlo Nasi; the Brazilian screenwriter and consultant Iana Cossoy Paro; the Mexican consultant and producer Paula Astorga; the Brazilian curator and producer Tatiana Leite; the Cuban consultant and screenwriter Xenia Rivery; the Uruguayan editor and producer Fernando Epstein; and the Brazilian editor and consultant Karen Akerman. The panel included Costa Rican producer Marcelo Quesada; Brazilian producer and distributor Marina Tarabay; Brazilian producer and distributor Talita Arruda; Brazilian screenwriter and producer Gabriella Mancini; Brazilian screenwriter Janaína Tokitaka; and Brazilian producer Nara Aragão.

There were also talks by André Novais Oliveira, Agustina Llambi-Campbell, Camila Márdila, Carol Rodrigues, Dione Carlos, Eva Morsch Kihn, Fernanda del Nido, Flor Nates, Gabor Greiner, Julia Priolli, Juliana Rojas, Juliette Lepoutre, Mariana Paiva, Norma Cuadros, Paola Wink, Rachel Daisy Ellis, Rodrigo Teixeira, Tainá Muhringer, among others.

And in celebration of BrLab’s 15th anniversary, the BrLab Film Showcase screened films that had passed through the laboratory throughout its history, such as The Ivy (Ana Cristina Barragán, 2025), winner of awards at the Venice Film Festival; Elder Son (Cecilia Kang, 2025), winner of awards at the Locarno Film Festival; The Nature of Invisible Things (Rafaela Camelo, 2025), winner of awards at the Berlin Film Festival; A Wolf at the Door (Fernando Coimbra, 2013), screened in a special session with a 35mm print; and others.