Nasjal Khayāl / Figment of Imagination An Alchemical Storytelling Lab

An intensive workshop that blends narrative theory and mysticism to help you develop and refine your own narrative. Nasjal Khayāl / Figment of Imagination An Alchemical Storytelling Lab with Fuad Halwani A story can begin with an image that stays with us, a song that awakens a memory, or a sentence we cannot quite let go of. Join Lebanese screenwriter, media producer, and researcher Fuad Halwani at Casa Palestina for an eight-week exploration of storytelling, imagination, and transformation. Working with two distinct narrative structures—the hero’s journey and kishōtenketsu (起承転結)—we will explore the elements that give stories their shape: change, character, action, scene, and act. Bringing together alchemy and the study of narrative, each session combines discussion with creative practice, offering tools to develop your ideas, build narrative worlds, and shape your own story. The programme culminates in a sharing of participants’ final works. The eight sessions • Alchemy 101 — An introduction to alchemy and its relevance to contemporary media. • Story Structure — Exploring the underlying architecture of stories through a dialectical approach. • New Media Theory and Practice — Connecting media studies with practical creative applications. • Characters as Vessels — Exploring depth psychology and character development. • Editing and Writing — Experimenting with visual writing through erasure, omission, and exclusion. • Transmedia Storyworlds — Discovering how stories unfold across different media and imagined worlds. • Practice as Resistance — Reflecting on creative labour and resistance through contemporary media art. • Sharing Works — Presenting participants’ final works, exchanging feedback, and closing the lab together. What to bring Come to the first session with an idea for a story you would like to develop. An image, a song, a sentence, or a moment of inspiration is enough to begin. Dates, time, and booking Every Saturday from 24 October to 12 December 2026 Dates: 24 and 31 October; 7, 14, 21, and 28 November; 5 and 12 December Time: 1:00–5:00 PM Location: Casa Palestina, Lisbon Fee: €70 for the complete eight-week programme Duration: Eight four-hour sessions, totalling 32 hours About Fuad Halwani Fuad Halwani is a Lebanese screenwriter, media producer, researcher, and teacher at ULHT in Lisbon, with more than ten years of experience in the media sector. Between 2009 and 2017, he worked as a secondary-school media and theatre teacher and as a scriptwriter at Cinemoz in Beirut. In 2019, he completed the Erasmus+ MA in Screenwriting through KinoEyes, completing a published dissertation and producing the short film BRUXA. Since 2020, his work has spanned media development, writing, production, and editing, alongside participation in pan-Arab writing seminars, including MEMI. Through his Tawūs project, Fuad’s artistic research and practice explore the Jungian concept of “the shadow” in contemporary media, examining narrative, protocols, and aesthetics. Bring the seed of a story and join us in discovering what it might become.