Established in 2005, the workshop received support from the French cultural TV channel ARTE, Aristoteles Workshop (www.aworkshop.org), the MEDIA Programme, the National Centre of Cinema (www.cncinema.abt.ro), Romanian Cultural Institute (www.icr.ro), and the National Cultural Fund Administration (www.afcn.ro).

The 16 students and young filmmakers from Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Macedonia, selected from more than 100 applications, formed 4 teams (producer, director, DOP and editor). They worked with mentors Thierry Garrel, the former head of Arte France's Documentary Department and Animation and Video Art Programming, and the Dutch filmmaker Jeroen Berkvens, and they were tutored by filmmakers Rafi Pitts, Simon Brook and Nino Kirtadze.

The Aristoteles Workshop has produced documentaries that have gone on to festivals including Cannes, Locarno, Nyon, Lepizig.