Qalambaaz just started its sixth cycle, taking a select few screenwriters from concept to a full film script in just six months. These are writers from early to advanced careers. The program focuses on early career professional writers, not students. This year, Qalambaaz has started marketing its efforts to expand to regional countries in South Asia that need infrastructural support towards scriptwriting. These include Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The founders hope to develop the pipeline and get more applications from the region in the coming years. The mentors for the month-to-month scriptwriting meetings are international working filmmakers. This year’s mentors are returning mentors Terrie Samundra, Gabrielle Kelly & Sirah Haq with new mentors Shrihari Sathe, Anil Baral and Suba Sivakumaran. The focus is to also broaden the mentor circle from the region with mid and advanced career filmmakers from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the mix.