The third edition of Sharjah Film Platform 3 (SFP3) will feature over 60 short and feature-length films, a public programme of talks and workshops, the SFP Industry Hub and awards.
Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) has announced an expanded programme for the third edition of its annual film festival, Sharjah Film Platform (SFP). The 2020 edition of SFP will offer a line-up of film screenings online and in cinemas, including award-winning films as well as new and never-before-seen films.
Alongside the screenings, SFP will feature talks on contemporary topics in film and awards for the best documentary, experimental and narrative films.
Screenings will take place at the Foundation’s contemporary open-air Mirage City Cinema, the recently renovated Flying Saucer and Cinemacity IMAX at Zero 6 Mall in Sharjah, UAE, from November 14 to 21, 2020.
Online screenings will be hosted on the foundation’s virtual festival platform, which will also present the extensive talks and workshops programme. The festival’s film screening programme will open with the premiere of Soha Shukayr’s In the Time of Revolution, an original short film supported by the Foundation’s Short Film Production Grant 2020. Works-in-progress by the other 2020 grantees, Nadia Amrani, Pelin Tan and Anton Vidokle, will also be presented on opening night.
Featuring more than 60 films from around the world, SFP3 includes the Middle East premieres of the acclaimed films The Shepherdess and The Seven Songs (2020) by Pushpendra Singh, Eyimofe (This is My Desire, 2020) by Arie and Chuko Esiri, and Epicentro (2020) by Hubert Sauper.
SFP3 film screenings will also be available on the festival’s online platform. The films will be available to stream on-demand the day after they are screened in cinemas. Free to attend, talks and workshops can also be accessed through the same virtual platform; however, advance registration is required.
Online festival tickets are 10 AED per film screening. The online all-access festival pass is 50 AED for unlimited film screenings throughout the festival period.
Visitors can purchase tickets at the Information Centre, Al Mureijah Art Spaces, and The Flying Saucer. Tickets for films screening in Cinemacity IMAX, Zero 6 Mall, are sold at the mall’s reception desk.
In addition to the screenings, SFP will offer an online programme of talks, panel discussions and conversations led by renowned filmmakers, artists and film industry professionals as well as workshops aimed at children interested in motion picture and moving-image arts.
At the conclusion of the festival, SAF will present awards to outstanding films in the experimental, documentary and narrative categories. The jury members include John Akomfrah, Kerem Ayan, Iftikhar Dadi, Mounir Fatmi, Eve Gabereau, Delphine Garde-Mroueh, Alice Kahroubi, Viola Shafik and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
This year, the foundation is broadening Sharjah Film Platform programming with the launch of the Industry Hub, a new initiative that aims to support film production and distribution in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region. Running from October 25, 2020, to January 16, 2021, the Industry Hub is supported by SFP3 industry partner Sharjah Media City (Shams).
Commenting on the festival, SAF Director Hoor Al Qasimi said: “There is an exceptional community of filmmakers in the UAE and the surrounding region, and through the establishment of Sharjah Film Platform in 2018, we aimed to build on SAF’s longstanding support for filmmakers and help bring their work to wider international audiences.
“The substantial developments happening this year—the inclusion of an online screening component for the festival and the launch of the SFP Industry Hub—allow us to build on our commitment to the film by bringing the work of incredible filmmakers from the region straight into the homes of viewers around the world and by creating new infrastructure to support emerging filmmakers and lay the groundwork for more risk-taking, experimental and exceptional films in the years to come.”
