Spotlighting new and established voices in independent cinema, Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual film festival brings together nearly 50 films

Overview

Sharjah Art Foundation announces the programme for its annual film festival Sharjah Film Platform (SFP), returning this December to spotlight independent cinema and experimental filmmaking. The festival’s sixth edition features a diverse range of screenings, including nearly 40 short and feature-length international films competing for the Sharjah Film Platform Awards, as well as special screenings of notable works from and around the region.

Each film screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A session with the filmmaker. A series of talks and panel discussions, focused on ideas of solidarity and resistance, will be presented in parallel with the film screenings.

Running from 8 to 17 December 2023, SFP6 will take place at the Mirage City Cinema, the open-air theatre in Sharjah’s historical quarter and the Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts. This edition of SFP will also screen films at VOX Cinemas in City Centre Al Zahia, offering premium experiences to independent cinema enthusiasts in the region.

The 10-day festival starts with Khaled Jarrar’s documentary Notes of Displacement (2023), a deep-dive documentary that follows a Palestinian family on a gruelling journey, from Syria to Germany, in search of refuge. The first evening will also feature Cannes Film Festival award-winner Goodbye Julia (2023) by Mohamed Kordofani, a story of struggles and friendship set in Khartoum during the years leading up to the secession of South Sudan in 2011. The Director in Focus section will highlight the work of pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye through three screenings and an in-depth conversation on the filmmaker’s practice.

SFP6’s concluding day will present two public programmes that focus on cinematic storytelling as a form of resistance and political imagination, including a conversation with Darin Sallam, director of the acclaimed film Farha (2021). The programme will be followed by the screening of La Bonga (2023) by Canela Reyes and Sebastian Pinzon, which follows the inhabitants of La Bonga, Colombia, on their symbolic journey home, two decades after being forcibly removed by paramilitaries.

SFP foregrounds recent cinematic works by international filmmakers and artists, noteworthy classics from around the region and experimental films that challenge the boundaries of film practice today. The festival includes a powerful array of films selected by a group of international nominators, in competition for awards, as well as special screenings of films hand-picked by the Foundation to complement the Competition selection.

More details on this year’s programme follow below. For more information, please visit sharjahart.org

In Competition Film Screenings

SFP6 will feature nearly 40 films competing for awards in short and feature-length fiction and documentary categories. All eligible films were produced within the last two years and are making their UAE premiere; several of these films have already garnered international acclaim. Opening with Khaled Jarrar’s documentary Notes of Displacement (2023), the lineup also includes Cannes Film Festival award-winner Goodbye Julia (2023) by Mohamed Kordofani, and Locarno International Film Festival award-winner Mulika (2022) by Maisha Maene, among others.

For this year’s edition, an international group of industry professionals individually nominated 10 films in documentary or fiction categories, with the final selection determined by the Foundation. This year’s nominators include:

Documentary category: Bentley Brown (filmmaker and Assistant Professor at American University of Sharjah), May Adadol Ingawanji (writer, curator and Professor at University of Westminster), Wood Lin (Programme director of Taiwan International Documentary Festival), Laura Huertas Millán (artist, filmmaker, and Film/Video Co-Chair at Bard MFA), Rasha Salti (researcher, writer, producer and film curator) and Mohanad Yaqubi (filmmaker, producer, co-founder of cinema research collective Subversive Films)

Fiction category: Nawaf Janahi (actor and filmmaker), Sara Merican (film journalist and critic), Akosua Adoma Owusu (filmmaker, cinematographer, and educator), Yuka Sakano (Head of International Relations at Kawakita Memorial Film Institute), Diana Sanchez (Former Senior Director of Film at Toronto International Film Festival), Alessandra Speciale (Head of Final Cut at Venice Film Festival) and Deepika Suseelan (Artistic Director of International Film Festival of Kerala).

In addition to the nominated films, this section of the festival also includes the world premieres of four films that were awarded the Foundation’s Short Film Production Grants.

Sharjah Film Platform Awards will be awarded to four films, based on genre and length: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Fiction Feature and Fiction Short. Winners will be deliberated and determined by an international jury comprised of industry professionals.

Special Screenings

SFP6 also includes special screenings of the fiction feature Inshallah a Boy (2023) directed by Amjad Al Rasheed’s and the documentary feature Machtat (2023) by Sonia Ben Slama, both of which articulate women’s struggle.

This section also includes the Director in Focus programme, which foregrounds established filmmakers who have contributed to the film culture of the region and beyond. This year, Sharjah Film Platform honours Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye (1943–2023), who was the first female African director to garner international fame. Faye made her directorial debut with the short film La Passante (The Passerby) (1972). Her debut film—award-winning Kaddu Beykat (Letter from My Village) (1976) which premiered at the Berlinale Forum in 1976—is considered the first feature film by a female director from sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, she was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The festival will celebrate her legacy by showing three of her films: Fad’jal (Newcomer, Work!) (1979), Kaddu Beykat (Letter from my Village) and Man Sa Yay (I, Your Mother).

Public Programme

Running alongside the film screenings is a diverse programme of talks that extends dialogue around the films and the industry at large. The programme includes an extensive slate of director Q&As and talkbacks, panels and discussions as well as opportunities to meet the directors and creative teams.

Partners and Supporters

Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, SFP6 has been made possible with the generous support of Ministry of Culture, Sharjah Media City Free Zone (Shams), Air Arabia and VOX Cinemas.

About Sharjah Film Platform

Sharjah Film Platform (SFP) is an annual festival of independent cinema, documentary filmmaking and moving image where audiences can discover new approaches to film and art. The 10-day event—which includes a range of regional and international films, talks by filmmakers and industry professionals, musical concerts and mixers—is centred around Mirage City Cinema, the open-air theatre in Sharjah’s historical quarter.

Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, SFP foregrounds recent cinematic achievements by international filmmakers and artists, noteworthy classics from around the region as well as experimental films that challenge the idea of what film practice is today.

About Sharjah Art Foundation

Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.

About Sharjah

Sharjah is the third largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. It was named UNESCO's Arab Capital of Culture for 1998 and the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2019.

Media Contact

Alyazeyah Al Marri
alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
+971(0)65444113