The Facts
On October 20, 2026, Sharjah Art Foundation announced the ninth edition of Sharjah Film Platform (SFP9), running from October 30 to November 8, 2026, at Mirage City Cinema and VOX Cinemas in Sharjah. The festival opens with Josef Khallouf's "Letters" (2025), an anthology of 17 short films on Lebanon's recent history, and closes with Larissa Sansour's feature "An Incomplete Drowning" (2026). The programme includes 26 titles, such as David Bim's "To the West, in Zapata" and Azeem Rajulawalla's "More Punk Than Punk." A competition section with four award categories features documentaries and fiction films nominated by an international committee, all screening in the UAE for the first time. The Director in Focus programme highlights Abderrahmane Sissako, with screenings of "Timbuktu," "Bamako," and "Black Tea" accompanied by a masterclass. First Takes, in collaboration with UAE universities, showcases student works, while the Short Film Production Grant premieres two newly completed shorts by Asim Abdulaziz and Fatima Wardy.
The Signal
SFP9 reinforces Sharjah Art Foundation's commitment to independent cinema as part of its broader contemporary art mission, paralleling its biennial and March Meeting. The festival's emphasis on underrepresented regions—Palestine, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Mexico—and its support for risk-taking filmmaking through grants and competition awards signal a growing institutional focus on film as a critical medium. For collectors and artists, the platform positions Sharjah as a key venue for discovering emerging voices in cinema, expanding the dialogue between moving-image art and cultural heritage.
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- Artists: Josef Khallouf, David Bim, Azeem Rajulawalla, Philbert Aimé Mbabazi, Hind Saeed Al Basti, Kapil Tanwar, Larissa Sansour, Asim Abdulaziz, Fatima Wardy, Abderrahmane Sissako
- People: Alaa Alasad, Bálint Bíró, Bentley Brown, Chafic Tabbara, Chayanin Tiangpitayagorn, Djia Mambu, Liz Chege, Manuel F Contreras, Toyeba Mushtaq, Mahmoud Kaabour, Rabih El Khoury, Rasha Amer, Hania Nashef, Maike Mia Höhne, Roger Garcia, Hoor Al Qasimi
- Museums: Sharjah Art Foundation
- Locations: Sharjah
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