Sharjah Film Platform 8

Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual celebration of indie/experimental cinema returns for its eighth edition from 14 to 23 November 2025 with an expanded lineup of films, talks and artist development programmes. Screenings and events will take place at Mirage City Cinema, SAF’s open-air theatre in Arts Square, plus VOX Cinemas in City Centre Al Zahia.

Opening the 10-day festival is Baab (2025), a new fantasy film by Nayla Al Khaja that blurs the boundaries between the living and the dead. The programme also includes Carissa (2024 – still above), a coming-of-age drama from South Africa; Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (2025) which documents the exchange between the late citizen journalist Fatema Hassona in Gaza and the filmmaker Sepideh Farsi; and five shorts produced through the SFP Short Film Production Grant – Saint Andrews (2025) by Erin Nene-Lee Ramirez; Yathoom (2025) by Hana Kazim; L’mina (2025) by Randa Maroufi; Goat (2024) by Judy Kibinge; and Morgenkreis [Morning Circle] (2025) by Basma Alsharif.

At the heart of SFP is the Competition section, which features 27 documentary and fiction films nominated by an committee of filmmakers and industry experts and selected from films released in the past two years. All these are being screened in the UAE for the first time; a number of screenings will be followed by Q&A sessions with the directors.

The Director in Focus segment honours regional directors for their lifetime achievements in global cinema. This year the accolade goes to Jocelyne Saab (1948–2019), whose politically engaged documentaries and experimental features continue to inspire generations of filmmakers. The festival will be showing four of Saab’s films: Dunia, Kiss Me Not on the Eyes (2005); Once Upon a Time in Beirut (1995); South Lebanon: The Story of a Village under Siege (1976); and Les Femmes palestiniennes (Palestinian Women) (1974). A special discussion panel features filmmaker, producer and researcher Mohanad Yaqubi with Mathilde Rouxel, President of the Jocelyne Saab Association.

New this year is First Takes, organised by Sharjah Art Foundation in collaboration with AUS, MYUAD, the University of Sharjah, and Zayed University. It spotlights short experimental works by UAE-based students and recent graduates. In addition to the film screenings, there will also be a public roundtable addressing the challenges and opportunities for emerging filmmakers in the UAE.

The full programme is here; most feature tickets are a bargain AED 15, some screenings are free.