The ninth Sharjah Film Platform is to return on October 30, presenting 26 films from around the world and a retrospective celebrating Oscar-nominated director Abderrahmane Sissako.
Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, the 10-day festival will run until November 8 and bring together emerging and established filmmakers from countries including Palestine, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Mexico, India and Haiti.
The festival will open with Letters (2025), an anthology of 17 short films by Lebanese director Josef Khallouf that reflects on his country's recent history.
An Incomplete Drowning (2026), directed by Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour and Denmark's Soren Lind, will close the event. Set aboard a ghostly ship drifting in the Mediterranean, the experimental film brings together figures from different periods of Palestinian history to examine colonialism, memory and the ability of objects to preserve the past.
This year's Director in Focus programme will celebrate Mauritanian filmmaker Sissako, who will travel to Sharjah to lead a masterclass exploring his filmmaking practice. The retrospective will feature three of his films: Bamako (2006), Timbuktu (2014) and Black Tea (2024).
Known for exploring identity, displacement and political realities across Africa, Sissako received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for Timbuktu, which depicts life under extremist rule in Mali.
His earlier film, Bamako, examines international financial institutions through a fictional trial staged in a Malian courtyard.
Emirati cinema will also be represented through Hind Al Basti's Alia and Meera, which follows two best friends whose small lie uncovers a family secret.
The festival will also continue its First Takes initiative for a second year, bringing together aspiring filmmakers from NYU Abu Dhabi, Zayed University, the American University of Sharjah and the University of the Arts Sharjah.
Developed in collaboration with Germany's Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, the programme includes pitching workshops, feedback sessions and networking opportunities for film students.
Screenings will take place at Mirage City Cinema, Sharjah Art Foundation's open-air cinema in Al Mureijah Square, as well as other venues across the emirate.
Sharjah Film Platform 9 runs from October 30 to November 8