Overview
As part of the fourth edition of the annual Reel Palestine film festival, Sharjah Art Foundation will host a film screening and an artisan market on both 20 and 27 January 2018 at the foundation’s Mirage City Cinema in Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah.
The film Ghost Hunting, to be screened at 8:00 pm on Saturday, 20 January, tells the story of Raed Andoni, a film director who re-enacts his experience as a detainee at Al Moskobiya interrogation center in Jerusalem. In an attempt to confront his ghostly memories, Andoni decides to rebuild his mysterious place of detention with the assistance of other former Al Moskobiya detainees who have experience in construction, architecture, painting, carpentry and acting. They gather in an empty courtyard near Ramallah to rediscover the features of their old prison and try to cope with the consequences of their detention.
Screening at 8:00 pm on Saturday, 27 January, the film Wajib focuses on Abu Shadi, a divorced father and school teacher in his mid-sixties who will be living alone after his daughter’s wedding, only one month away. After years abroad, his architect son Shadi arrives in Nazareth from Rome to help his father hand-deliver the wedding invitations according to local Palestinian custom. As the estranged pair spend time together, the tense details of their past surface and challenge their fragile relationship.
In addition to the two film screenings, an artisan market featuring Palestinian-inspired artisanal goods will run from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm on both 20 and 27 January.
Organised in collaboration with presenting partner Cinema Akil, Reel Palestine is an annual pop-up film series that screens a selection of the latest Palestinian documentaries, dramas, short films and comedies in the UAE. This year’s festival will take place across several venues, including Sharjah Art Foundation’s Mirage City Cinema and Alserkal Avenue in Dubai as well as Warehouse 421 and Manarat Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi.
The Sharjah Art Foundation Film Programme aims to create a platform for UAE film enthusiasts to view a selection of films not shown in mainstream cinemas. Film screenings include award-winning works by upcoming directors, world cinema classics or specially curated series that explore a particular theme or genre. Films are screened at the outdoor Mirage City Cinema in Al Mureijah Square, which was designed for Sharjah Biennial 11 in 2013.
All Sharjah Art Foundation events are free and open to the public.