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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for magpie
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TZID:Asia/Dubai
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DTSTART:20220101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260216
DTSTAMP:20260203T114602Z
CREATED:20260203T113350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260203T114602Z
UID:10013383-1770076800-1771199999@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:Sharjah Light Festival
DESCRIPTION:magpie has long been a fan of the Sharjah Light Festival\, the 14th edition of which runs 3 to 15 February. By contrast with the newer Manar Abu Dhabi and Dhai Dubai light art festivals\, SLF generally takes a more conventional approach – which typically means illuminating iconic cultural (and some natural) landmarks\, albeit with active light shows. \nThis year’s Sharjah Light Festival features light shows in 13 locations\, and there’s clearly been a deliberate effort to spread them beyond Sharjah City. Locally there are shows at Dr Sultan Al Qassimi Center near University City Hall\, Al Majaz Waterfront\, Kalba Waterfront\, the General Souq at Al Hamriyah\, Al Jada\, and the House of Wisdom. And it should be worth making the trips to Al Rafisah Dam\, Al Dhaid Fort\, Khorfakkan Waterfall\, the Hanging Gardens in Kalba\, Dibba’s AlTayari Mosque\, and Sharjah Fort in Al Hisn.  \nThere’s also the Light Village in front of the University City Hall building\, which will have around 55 F&B and retail vendors plus entertainment and activities. That stays open till 22 February. \n 
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/sharjah-light-festival/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Festival,Light,Public art
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTSTAMP:20251112T080741Z
CREATED:20251111T175224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251112T080741Z
UID:10013057-1763078400-1763942399@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:Sharjah Film Platform 8
DESCRIPTION: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. \nOpening 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. \nAt 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. \nThe 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. \nNew 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. \nThe full programme is here; most feature tickets are a bargain AED 15\, some screenings are free.
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/sharjah-film-platform-8/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Festival,Film
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251103
DTSTAMP:20251028T120811Z
CREATED:20251028T120700Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251028T120811Z
UID:10012967-1761955200-1762127999@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:Sites in Conversation
DESCRIPTION:A two-day symposium of readings\, discussions\, and shared meals as part of that unfolds across Sharjah as part of Sharjah Architecture Triennial’s DAAS programme. DAAS is Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Studies\, a programme with no fixed curriculum but instead an environment where “knowledge emerges through encounters\, conversations\, and shared practices”. \nThe DAAS programme moves between different sites: from Sharjah to Sicily\, from Palestine to Stockholm\, “and in the everyday contexts participants bring with them … This mobility reflects the shared condition of displacement\, while also rooting work in situated struggles”. \nSo each session is intended to unfold as a dialogue shaped by lived experiences and research. The programme: \nDay One Saturday 1 November 10am to 6pm\nAl Qasimiyah School\, Sharjah City \nLed by May Al-Dabbagh\, Zoe Butt\, Charles Esche\, and Shahram Khosravi\, these sessions have no fixed topics; instead they invite improvisation\, allowing unexpected connections and solidarities to emerge. \nDay Two Sunday 2 November 2m to 7pm\nConcrete Tent\, Al Madam (transportation provided) \nThe final gathering reflects on conversation as the central methodology of DAAS: “in this shared space\, the art of conversation becomes both a method and a horizon for future encounters – and for the forthcoming iteration of ‘DAAS in Cairo’.
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/sites-in-conversation/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Architecture
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251018
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251026
DTSTAMP:20251008T140941Z
CREATED:20251008T140846Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T140941Z
UID:10012881-1760745600-1761436799@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:World Stage Design
DESCRIPTION:The international festival of design for performance\, held every four years\, is coming to the UAE for its 2025 edition. It features exhibitions\, performances\, workshops\, talks and panels where professionals share ideas and mingle with the consumers; read our preview piece\, including an interview with the organiser\, here. \nInternational Design Exhibition and Competition \nThis platforms individual designers from across the globe\, showing work that they have created in the previous four years (no hypothetical designs are allowed). Applications to WSD25 closed in November last year with just over a thousand submissions; an international jury of 16 members has shortlisted the top 100 to show in the exhibition and compete for the awards. \nTheatre Architecture Competition \nThe TAC explores new ideas about theatre architecture and interdisciplinary cooperation. Architects and theatre makers submit their proposals for a performance space in a given location – which this time will be the courtyard at Bait Obaid al Shamsi. Collaborations between architects and other theatre practitioners such as directors\, technicians\, performers or musicians (and/or students in those fields) are encouraged. \nTechnical Invention Prize \nThe TIP competition invites theatre technicians worldwide to share simple and smart solutions in everyday stage practice – innovative gadgets\, devices\, or any other effective solutions (often crafted using affordable materials and available resources). While some inventions may be used only in a specific theatre\, company\, touring production\, or even within a single country\, the TIP provides a platform to share them with the international community. All competition entries are published in a catalogue as a reference for industry professionals and educators. \nScenofest \nThis is the festival component of WSD\, celebrating scenography with around 60 talks\, masterclasses\, panel discussions\, themed mini-exhibitions\, and immersive installations and performances (from New Zealand\, Hungary\, the UAE\, Indonesia\, UK\, Nigeria\, “and many more”) in a very full programme running 10am to 10pm each day. \nAlso part of Scenofest is a one-day Research Symposium celebrating “global perspectives\, insights and approaches to research in theatre and performance design\, architecture\, and technology”. The full programme is here. \nSound Kitchen \nA biennial opportunity for sound designers and composers to publicly present or perform their work in a listening-friendly space. Presentations may be compositions (or extracts from longer compositions)\, sound art\, sounds from an installation\, or sound scores from theatre or live entertainment; pieces are typically 10-20 minutes with an opportunity to discuss the work afterwards. There’s more information here. \nWSD25 is being organised by Sharjah Performing Arts Academy under the theme Tomorrow’s Heritage. The main venue is SPAA; TAC and some Scenofest events will be at Sharjah Arts Foundation’s Bait Obaid Al Shamsi; and the TIP will be at Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park. \nDay passes are AED 50 and an eight-day pass is a bargain AED 250; both include all performances\, workshops\, talks\, exhibitions\, and Scenofest.
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/world-stage-design/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Awards,Design,Exhibition,Performance
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://magpie.ae/thumbpress-image/2025/03/tomorrowland-copy-e1742822772599.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20241108T141815Z
CREATED:20241025T111216Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241108T141815Z
UID:10010781-1731628800-1732492799@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:Sharjah Film Platform 7
DESCRIPTION:Sharjah Arts Foundation’s annual indie/experimental film festival returns for its seventh edition\, featuring around 30 UAE premieres. \nMost are in the Competition section\, documentary and fiction films that have been nominated by an international committee of filmmakers and industry professionals. Highlights include … \n◊ Kamal Al Jafari’s documentary A Fidai Film (2024) which seeks to reclaim the looted memories of Palestinian history by using archival footage\n◊ Places of the Soul (2023) by Hamida Issa\, which follows an environmental expedition to Antarctica while juxtaposing its icy landscape with the deserts of the filmmaker’s home country\n◊ Pham Ngoc Lan’s fiction feature Cu Li Never Cries (2024)\, a black and white film interweaving personal and political histories in current day Vietnam\n◊ The Great Yawn of History (2024) by Iranian filmmaker Aliyar Rasti\, a story about a middle-aged religious man who goes on a quest for hidden treasure. \nAmong the other films showing are two supported by Sharjah Art Foundation – From Ground Zero (2024)\, an anthology of 22 short films created by filmmakers from Gaza; and Upshot (2024)\, a short directed by Maha Haj\, which tells a story of a solitary couple and the aftermaths of a painful past. \nThe Director in Focus segment honours regional directors for their lifetime achievements in global cinema. Honoured this year is Mohamad Malas\, noted for his moving films chronicling the modern history of Syria and its neighbours. Along with the screening of The Dream (1987)\, The Night (1992) and the global premiere of Oh Father\, I Am Youssef (2024)\, Malas will give a masterclass on the role of storytelling. \nPresented in parallel with the film screenings\, a series of public programmes provides opportunities for learning and gathering. This year’s programme focuses on notions of modernity in new African and Asian film\, cinema as resistance and resilience from Palestine and beyond\, as well as innovations in documentary filmmaking\, among other topics. \nAlso part of this year’s SFP is the Sharjah Film Platform Feature Fund that will award AED 500\,000 to one UAE-based scriptwriter\, director or lead/executive producer for the completion of an English- or Arabic-language narrative feature currently under production. Formerly known as the Pitching Forum\, the strengthened fund should now provide more comprehensive and robust support to filmmakers in the country. \nSFP7 runs 15 to 24 November at the open-air Mirage City Cinema in Sharjah’s historical quarter\, and indoors at VOX Cinemas at City Centre Al Zahia. The full programme is here; most feature screenings are a bargain AED 15\, some are free. \n 
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/sharjah-film-platform-7/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Festival,Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://magpie.ae/thumbpress-image/2024/10/sfp7.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240219
DTSTAMP:20240124T143346Z
CREATED:20240124T140358Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240124T143346Z
UID:10007501-1707264000-1708300799@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:Sharjah Light Festival
DESCRIPTION:Regular readers will know that magpie has always been a fan of the Sharjah Light Festival\, the 13th edition of which runs 7 to 18 February. SLF is being joined by two more light festivals that have emerged in the UAE over the last few months – Manar Abu Dhabi\, which runs to the end of the month\, and Dhai Dubai Light Art Festival at Expo City Dubai from 26 January to 4 February. \nThey both look like becoming exceptional additions to the calendar\, but they are very different constructions to SLF. Their artworks in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi installations stand alone\, even when they are site-specific. By contrast\, the Sharjah Light Festival generally takes a more conventional approach – the kind of thing we’re familiar with from some of the European city light festivals\, which typically means illuminating iconic cultural (and some natural) landmarks. \nThis year’s Sharjah Light Festival features light shows crafted by around 15 international artists in a dozen locations – three of them new to the schedule this year: Kalba Waterfront\, the General Directorate of Sharjah Police\, and the General Souq at Al Hamriyah. They join Khalid Lagoon\, Al Majaz Waterfront\, BEEAH Group Headquarters\, Al Dhaid Fort\, Sharjah Mosque\, Sheikh Rashid Al Qasimi Mosque\, Al Noor Mosque\, and Al Rafisah Dam. \nThere’s also the Light Village in front of the University City Hall building\, which will have around 55 F&B and retail vendors plus entertainment and activities. That opens from 1 February. \n 
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/sharjah-light-festival-3/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Festival,Light,Public art
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231208
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231218
DTSTAMP:20231204T165306Z
CREATED:20231204T165306Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231204T165306Z
UID:10007319-1701993600-1702857599@magpie.ae
SUMMARY:Sharjah Film Platform 6
DESCRIPTION: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”. \nSome 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. \nSFP6 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. \nIn 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. \nThe talks programme is at Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts in Al Mureijah Square. Download the full details here. \nThe 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. \nSFP6 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). \n 
URL:https://magpie.ae/event/sharjah-film-platform-6-2/
LOCATION:[various Sharjah locations]
CATEGORIES:Festival,Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://magpie.ae/thumbpress-image/2023/12/for-my-country.png
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