The Sharjah Art Foundation has invited emerging and established filmmakers in the UAE and from around the world to submit their films for this year’s Sharjah Film Platform. The third iteration of the film festival, which will run for one week from November 14 to 21, will bring a number of feature-length and short films to Sharjah, with screenings taking place at the Mirage City Cinema and Al Hamra Cinema, one of Sharjah’s oldest movie theatres. All accepted films will be up for an an award.
Besides its curated film programme, the platform will also hold an extensive programme of talks and workshops, covering subjects such as screenwriting, critical film theory and film criticism. The platform gives a short film production grant to films that are chosen to premiere at the festival.
Last year, three short films were awarded the grant: Children of the Lake, directed by Filipino filmmaker Emerson Reyes, From the Mountain, directed by Arab-American filmmaker Faisal Attrache, Layla, At Last, directed by American filmmaker Julian Alexander.
The Pitching Forum also launched in 2019 will return this year to the festival. It is a closed, invitation-only event serves as a meeting platform for aspiring filmmakers to meet industry professionals. It allows people to receive feedback on their work and find potential collaborators for future productions.
At the end of the festival, an international jury will award the winners of the best narrative, best documentary and best experimental film awards. The monetary prize will support a filmmaker’s future production project.
The application deadline is midnight on Sunday, April 26. Multiple submissions are not allowed. To submit your film, visit www.sharjahart.org
