Sharjah24: Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual film festival, opens this week with a diverse line-up of feature-length and short films in three genres: narrative, documentary and experimental. Celebrating its fifth edition this year, SFP focuses on independent cinema, documentary filmmaking and moving image works that demonstrate new approaches to film and art.

Organised by the Foundation, SFP foregrounds recent cinematic achievements by international filmmakers and artists, noteworthy classics from around the region and worldwide, and experimental films that challenge the idea of what film practice is today.

Taking place from 21 to 30 October 2022 in three venues: Mirage City Cinema, Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts and Gallery 4 of Al Mureijah Art Spaces, SFP5 will feature more than 25 films that were selected through an international open call. Select films, chosen by a distinguished jury, will receive the Sharjah Film Platform Awards for Best Narrative, Best Documentary and Best Experimental. The awards will be announced on the last day of the festival. This year’s jury includes: 

Documentary category: Talal Afifi (Director, Sudan Film Factory); Maryam Kashani (Filmmaker and Assistant Professor in Asian American Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign); Deepika Suseelan (Film Curator)
Narrative category: Laila Aoudj (Co-founder, Dima Cinema); Hanna Atallah (Founder and Artistic Director, Filmlab Palestine)
Experimental category: Kais Zaied (CineMadart); Darine Hotait (Filmmaker); Hind Mezaina (Film Curator)
 
The film screening programme for SFP5 will open with Payal Kapadia’s documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021), which won the Golden Eye at the Cannes Film Festival (2021). The festival will conclude with Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria (2021), which won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Award (2021) and stars Tilda Swinton. Weerasethakul co-designed Mirage City Cinema (one of SFP5’s main venues) for Sharjah Biennial 11 in 2013. 

This year, the festival’s Director in Focus section will honour the late filmmaker Moufida Tlatli with the screening of three of her films: The Silences of the Palace (1994), The Season of Men (2000) and Nadia et Sarra (2004). Her work is internationally recognised and has received numerous awards, including Cannes Film Festival's Golden Camera and Toronto Film Festival's International Critics' Award. 

The programme will also include the world premiere of Mariam Alserkal and Maaria Sayed’s Unveiling Selma (2022), which received the Short Film Production Grant in 2021.

In addition, through a collaborative initiative with the US Mission to the UAE, SFP5 will present Cherien Dabis’ Amreeka (2009) and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Songs of Lahore (2015), as part of the American Film Week.

Aside from regional and international films, SFP5 also includes talks, masterclasses and panel discussions by filmmakers and industry professionals as well as the SFP Industry Hub, an initiative that offers professional development and support to emerging filmmakers. 

For the first time, SFP5 will also include a special musical performance and a networking mixer to celebrate the festival and the filmmaking community.