• LAST CHANCE Maitha Abdalla: Between Metamorphosis and Reality

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    With a mix of painting and sculpture, this solo exhibition by the Emirati artist explores folklore, mythology, psychology, and social constructs that shift between abstraction and representation. Says the blurb: "The exhibition highlights the power of art to spark dialogue, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Riders: dir Dominik Mencej (2022)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Two friends from a small village rework their mopeds into choppers and embark on a journey – travelling through dreams of the past and visions of the future, looking for freedom and love. On the road through Slovenia and Croatia, [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Horia: dir Ana Maria Comanescu (2023)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Restless teen Horia takes off on his father’s old motorbike on a cross-country journey to reunite with his girlfriend. On the road, he is joined by Stela, a sassy 13-year-old, and an unlikely friendship blooms. The film’s atmosphere is colourful, [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Ramona: dir Andrea Bagney (2022)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Andrea Bagney’s debut feature, largely shot in black and white in a stylistic nod to the French New Wave of the 1960s, is a romantic comedy with a difference. After living abroad for several years, Ramona and her boyfriend Nico [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • UFO Sweden: dir Victor Danell (2023)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Stranger Things meets X-Files – young Swedish teen rebel Denise is placed in foster care after her dad goes missing. She believes her father was kidnapped by UFOs, and she gets in touch with the quirky local skywatchers association, UFO [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Four Souls of Coyote: dir Áron Gauder (2023)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Animated adventure drama about Native American protesters confronting the crew of an oil pipeline project that is located near their ancestral lands. The grandfather shares an ancient tale of their Creation myth, a story filled with adventures featuring animals, magic, [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Tarrac: dir Declan Recks (2023)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Arriving back in Kerry after her father has had a heart attack, Aoife (Kelly Gough) initially has some trouble shaking off her urban pretensions and reconnecting with old pals. But she finds herself recruited into the local sea-rowing team; they [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Remember to Blink: dir Austėja Urbaitė (2021)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A French couple have adopted two children from Lithuania; they enlist the help of Gabriele, a young Lithuanian student, to serve as an interpreter and nanny. When the children arrive, the idyllic façade of the new family arrangement buckles under [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • The Trap: dir Nadejda Koseva (2023)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Bojeka is an eccentric man with a strong sense of his own dignity, who lives in solitude on the banks of the Danube in harmony with nature and a collection of animals. Then the local bigwigs want to create a [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Io Sto Bene: dir Donato Rotunno (2020)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Writer-director Rotunno blends past and present in this understated melodrama. Antonio is an Italian who emigrated ti Luxembourg to find work. Now widowed, he is preparing to move out of his comfortable apartment to a care home. A chance encounter [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • The Musicians: dir Grégory Magne (2024)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Comedy-drama about a unique concert – Astrid (Valérie Donzelli) attempts to realise a family dream by bringing together four violin virtuosos. Rehearsals quickly turn into a disaster because of the conflict of egos, so Astrid calls on a retired composer [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Mond: dir Kurdwin Ayub (2024)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A former martial artist hired to train three wealthy Jordanian sisters finds her dream job become something else, something unsettling: the isolated young women are under constant surveillance and show no interest in the sport. Why was she really hired? [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Living Large: dir Kristina Dufková (2024)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Family-friendly animation about a 12-year-old boy who faces bullying because of his weight. He decides to take charge of his life by adopting a healthier lifestyle and wining the heart of the girl he admires. Through his journey, he learns [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Two to One: dir Natja Brunckhorst (2024)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A heist comedy set in East Germany and based in part on a true story. It's the final hot summer before reunification in 1990; free-spirited Maren, her partner Robert and friend Volker happen upon millions of soon-to-be-worthless East German banknotes [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Carmen: dir Valerie Buhagiar (2021)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Inspired in part by the real experiences of the director's own aunt, this drama stars Natascha McElhone as Carmen, a Maltese spinster who has spent her adult life serving as a caretaker for her brother, a Catholic priest; as she [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Bigman: dir Camiel Schouwenaar (2022)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Much-awarded family movie that follows friends Dylan and Youssef, who are connected by their passion for football. But then Dylan is paralysed following an accident: his dad and former coach wants him to accept his disability, but though Dylan has [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Dangerous Gentlemen: dir Maciej Kawalski (2022)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Crime comedy featuring four distinguished figures from Polish culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – novelist Joseph Conrad, translator Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski and painter and writer Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Their hangovers headaches are killing [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Mountain Boy: dir Zainab Sheheen (2023)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Feel-good family feature film based on Michele Ziolkowski's award-winning children’s book The Boy Who Knew the Mountains. Suhail, a lad with autism, flees to the mountains when his father shuns him. With his new friend Barakah, an Arabian Saluki, Suhail makes [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Flow: dir Gints Zilbalodis (2024)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    An absolutely stunning low-budget (and largely handmade) antidote to Disneyification – a wordless animated fable about a cat reluctantly making friends with a dog, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara and a secretary bird in a post-apocalyptic world. There's a message, [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Jesse Cook

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A second UAE date for the noted guitarist, accompanied by Fethi Nadjem (violin, mandole), Dan Minchom (bass), Matt Sellick (guitar), and either Matais Recharte or Marito Marques (drums, cajón, percussion) – and there's a special guest star, top oud soloist [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Maitha Abdalla: Between Metamorphosis and Reality

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    With a mix of painting and sculpture, this solo exhibition by the Emirati artist explores folklore, mythology, psychology, and social constructs that shift between abstraction and representation. Says the blurb: "The exhibition highlights the power of art to spark dialogue, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Theeb: dir Gedir Naji Abu Nowar (2014)

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Theeb ('Wolf') is a young Bedouin boy living in a remote part of the Ottoman Empire in 1916. When his older brother has to escort a British officer across the desert, Theeb tags along for the adventure – and experiences [ ... ]

    Free
  • 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Lecture

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Abu Dhabi has been chosen as the host city for the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize – "in recent years, the UAE’s growing presence in the global arts and culture landscape, and openness in supporting the works of international architects provides [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Khaleeji Jazz

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A slightly belated World Jazz Day celebration in the form of a concert by Grammy Award-winning Egyptian oriental jazz pioneer Fathy Salama with a world premiere of his latest work. He will be joined by the noted bassist André Segone and [ ... ]

    From AED150
  • To Know Malaysia is to Love Malaysia: Major Highlights from The AFK Collection

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A group show by pioneering first-generation Malaysian contemporary artists, selected from The AFK Collection — the most comprehensive collection of Malaysian contemporary art from the 1980s to the present. Exhbiited artists include Ahmad Shukri Mohammed, Ahmad Fuad Osman, Ali Nurazmal, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Akram Khan Company: Jungle Book reimagined

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The second and final performance for this bold adaptation of Kipling’s classic tale which explores urgent themes such as climate change and human displacement. Akram Khan and his team have reimagined the journey of Mowgli through the eyes of a [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • Akram Khan Company: Jungle Book reimagined

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Akram Khan’s signature choreography, blending Kathak and contemporary dance, delivers a bold adaptation of Kipling’s classic tale which explores urgent themes such as climate change and human displacement. Akram and his team have reimagined the journey of Mowgli through the [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • LAST CHANCE Zineb Sedira: A way of surviving, a way of life …

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Sedira's films represent a profound archival exploration of identity, and cultural activism. Born in 1963 to Algerian parents, her work is deeply rooted in her self-narration but also sheds light on broader, interconnected global anxieties surrounding cultural emancipation and diaspora. [ ... ]

    Free
  • Potted Potter

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The two final performances (at 2.30pm and 7.30pm) for this very silly, very funny show: all seven Harry Potter books (and a game of Quidditch) condensed into 70 minutes, with all the main Harry Potter characters, endless costumes, brilliant songs, [ ... ]

    From AED 120
  • Potted Potter

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A very silly, very funny show: all seven Harry Potter books (and a game of Quidditch) condensed into 70 minutes, with all the main Harry Potter characters, endless costumes, brilliant songs, ridiculous props, and a special appearance from a fire-breathing [ ... ]

    From AED 120
  • Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial: gubuyoBand – Animating the Desert

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Rediscover Abu Dhabi's natural environment through the imagination of local participants. This workshop starts with a game-like activity (ink battle), then progresses to group activities on large pieces of paper. Participants can share local folktales and stories that take place [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Meeting Mozart

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    This acclaimed interactive experience for the young has been a major success for Sydney Opera House; it’s a 40-minute show aimed at children aged 2 to 10 (and their families) which blends live music, storytelling, and song to introduce young [ ... ]

    From AED 120
  • Authentic Flamenco: Daniel Casares

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A second evening of performances (at 5.30pm and 8.30pm) for the award-winning flamenco guitarist and this explicitly titled show. This is the Teatro Real de Madrid production that has been wowing audiences for some time; it aims to deliver a [ ... ]

    From AED 120
  • Authentic Flamenco: Daniel Casares

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The award-winning flamenco guitarist brings this explicitly titled show to the UAE for two nights (the second performances are on 2 November). This is the Teatro Real de Madrid production that has been wowing audiences for some time; it aims [ ... ]

    From AED 120
  • Merci Charles

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The second UAE concert for Hayk Petrosyan’s Merci Charles project, a tribute to Charles Aznavour through his iconic songs – more than 20 of them in this concert, with a jazz-flavoured interpretation delivered by the Armenian singer and his band [ ... ]

    From AED 160
  • Samir Gharib: Half a century of art criticism

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The noted Egyptian art critic and author Samir Gharib will discuss art criticism and his writing on Egyptian modernism, particularly his approach to covering exhibitions in Egypt. The discussion, in Arabic, will be moderated by critic and poet Sameh Kaawach. [ ... ]

    Free
  • Zineb Sedira: A way of surviving, a way of life …

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Sedira's films represent a profound archival exploration of identity, and cultural activism. Born in 1963 to Algerian parents, her work is deeply rooted in her self-narration but also sheds light on broader, interconnected global anxieties surrounding cultural emancipation and diaspora. [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Native: Plants in the UAE

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    An exhibition that explores the plants indigenous to the UAE, looking at the surrounding atmosphere that affects its growth and gives it its unique variations of colour, texture, size and behaviour. "From the iconic Ghaf tree to the resilient desert [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Hussein Sharif: Re-framing Reality

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The Culture Foundation's big summer show is a major survey of four decades of work showcasing the multidisciplinary practice across painting, drawing, collage and sculpture of an artist acknoweldged as one of the UAE’s key postmodernists (he was one of [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Native: Plants in the UAE

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A group exhibition that showcases the UAE’s native flora, exploring the life conditions of plants indigenous to the country’s landscape and examining how the surrounding atmosphere both affects their growth and results in unique variations of colour, texture, size and [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Hussein Sharif: Re-framing Reality

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A major survey of four decades of the artist’s work across painting, drawing, collage and sculpture that should further demonstrate why Sharif – one of 'the five' – is such an important figure in the development of UAE postmodernism. The [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Through the Seasons with Eric Carle

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    For the first time in the region, the work of the noted illustrator and children’s book author (more than 70 titles to his name, including of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar) is celebrated through Carle’s brilliant imagery of the seasons, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Abu Dhabi Youth Orchestra: A Musical Journey Around the World

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A family concert by Abu Dhabi's Youth Orchestra. And that's as much as we know, except to note that the standard of the orchestra is commendably high and the playing is impressively reliable ...

    AED 50
  • Through the Seasons with Eric Carle

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    For the first time in the region, the work of the noted illustrator and children’s book author (more than 70 titles to his name, including of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar) is celebrated through Carle’s brilliant imagery of the seasons, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Native: Plants in the UAE

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    An exhibition that explores the plants indigenous to the UAE, looking at the surrounding atmosphere that affects its growth and gives it its unique variations of colour, texture, size and behaviour. "From the iconic Ghaf tree to the resilient desert [ ... ]

    Free
  • Hussein Sharif: Re-framing Reality

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The Culture Foundation's big summer show is a major survey of four decades of work showcasing the multidisciplinary practice across painting, drawing, collage and sculpture of an artist acknoweldged as one of the UAE’s key postmodernists (he was one of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Xinjiang is a Nice Place

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The Xinjiang Art Theatre Song and Dance Troupe celebrate the Chinese New Year with this colourful, large-scale epic of music, dance and spectacle that depicts the colourful culture of Xinjiang – a vast region of deserts and mountains in northwest [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Crossbones Trombones Ensemble

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    Now this should be a lot of fun. The ensemble (usually five trombones, generally unaccompanied) are a group of young and driven Belgian musicians whose repertoire mixes classical and jazz styles infused with cinematic and pop elements. The short gig, [ ... ]

    AED 75
  • Authentic Flamenco Abu Dhabi

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A second evening of performances for this showcase production created by the award-winning dancer and choreographer Amador Rojas for the Royal Opera of Madrid – claimed to be "the most important performing arts institution in Spain". The compilation of traditional [ ... ]

    From AED210