Sharjah Film Platform 6

The sixth edition of Sharjah Arts Foundation’s annual indie/experimental film festival, which runs from 8 to 17 December, features more than 50 films from around the world – a range of independent cinema and experimental filmmaking that “foregrounds the transformative role of cinema in our culture and community”.

Some 30 of them are in the SFP6 Competition section for the Sharjah Film Platform Awards; all UAE premieres, these films will be followed by Q&A sessions with the directors.

SFP6 also offers a series of screenings that highlight noteworthy films produced in and around the region. This Out of Competition section includes Amjad Al Rasheed’s fiction feature Inshallah a Boy (2023) on 15 December and Sonia Ben Slama’s documentary Machtat (2023) the following evening. Three others we’d recommend: Goodbye Julia (dir Mohamed Kordofani, 2023), screening on the opening evening; the powerful For My Country (dir Rachid Hami, 2022: still above) showing on 10 December; and Animalia (dir Sofia Alaoui, 2023) on 16 December.

In parallel with the film screenings is a series of public programmes that this year focuses on ideas of solidarity and resistance. Featuring regional and international filmmakers, the panel sessions and talks will touch on the Nakba and the Palestinian experience of rupture, African cinema and the postcolonial condition as well as the ways in which cinema can convey the spirit of defiance in the face of oppression.

The talks programme is at Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts in Al Mureijah Square. Download the full details here.

The accompanying SFP Industry Hub for industry professionals again has a Pitching Forum, a feature scriptwriting competition with an open call; the Script Lab, a professional scriptwriting course; and an annual initiative to support regional and international film distribution.

SFP6 screenings take place in Mirage City Cinema, SAF’s open-air theatre in Al Mureijah Square, and VOX Cinemas at City Centre Al Zahia. Films are booked individually at AED 15 each (there doesn’t seem to be a multi-screening pass).