Chicago Industry Exchange Lab
Submissions for CIX:Lab 2026 are now open!
About CIX:Lab
The Chicago Industry Exchange: Lab (CIX: Lab) is a year-long feature film development lab for filmmakers with narrative fiction feature films in active development.
Filmmakers are invited to apply to the CIX: Lab, which consists of quarterly workshops based in person in Chicago focusing on script development, directing, producing and pre-production, and pitching as well as year-long consultations with a Creative Advisor. The Lab culminates in The Pitch held during the Chicago International Film Festival’s Industry Days (October 2026), where the filmmakers present their projects in front of a live audience and panel of industry judges, with the winning pitch receiving a package of in-kind production and consultation services.
Download full CIX: Lab program details & overview
Films that started out as Pitch projects include Signature Move (2017), Knives and Skin (2019), Once Upon a River (2019), and The Year Between (2022).
Past advisors have included:
- Jennifer Reeder (Knives and Skin)
- Melika Bass (Shoals)
- Kyle Henry (Rogers Park)
- Erica Weiss (The View from Tall)
- Malik Bader (Street Thief)
Special Lab guests have included:
- Tracey Scott Wilson (producer/writer, The Americans)
- Karyn Kusama (director, Girlfight)
- Mary Jane Skalski (producer, The Station Agent)
- Virgil Williams (screenwriter, Mudbound)
- Jessica Bendinger (screenwriter, Bring it On)
Past CIX: Lab Projects
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