Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual film festival—the Sharjah Film Platform is back for the year and is taking place from November 19 to 27 with a line-up of more than 50 films, including world and regional premieres.
In its fourth year, the festival will host public talks and masterclasses with award-winning filmmakers, workshops for children, and its industry hub that supports the development and distribution of new films.
Taking place in a hybrid format this year, the films of the festival will be made available online simultaneously along with screening across Sharjah, including the Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts and the open-air Mirage City Cinema in Al Mureijah Square.
The Sharjah Film Platform will feature in-cinema screenings of films, submitted either through the festival’s open submissions process or by invitation in the segments of experimental, documentary, and narrative categories, culminating into a presentation of awards.
The film platform will commence with the screening of two films— The Myth of Manila (2021)—a film following the trials of a reporter in pandemic-hit Manila by 2021 winner Janus Victoria, and Notes for a Film about Gilgamesh (2022), a work in production by 2020 winners Pelin Tan and Anton Vidokle.
The film platform will also host workshops for children this year that will give them hands-on experience with filmmaking essentials along with an accompanying film that will be screened at the Flying Saucer building in Dasman.
The festival will also see the screening of two curated films this year— ‘Director in Focus’, highlighting the work of award-winning Palestinian director Michel Khleifi, and ‘Her Journey’, presented in partnership with Istanbul Modern, that explores the complex, women-centric stories in Turkish cinema through ten 10 feature-length and short films.