Sharjah Art foundation cultural events:

Vantage Point Sharjah 12: If I Were Another
28 September 2024–8 December 2024

Vantage Point Sharjah (VPS) is an annual exhibition showcasing emerging photographers. The 12th edition, titled *If I Were Another*, features four artists selected from an international open call. Their works explore themes like displacement, ecology, and motherhood through diverse photographic methods, offering a platform for documentary and experimental approaches. Curated by Sara Al Mheiri.

Emily Karaka: Ka Awatea, A New Dawn

7 September 2024–1 December 2024

*Ka Awatea, A New Dawn* surveys the work of Senior Māori artist Emily Karaka, an abstract expressionist and colourist rooted in Māori rights and the Treaty of Waitangi. Her vibrant, large-scale paintings advocate for iwi justice and environmental care. This exhibition spans five decades of her career and includes new work. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi and Megan Tamati-Quennell.

Bouchra Khalili: Between Circles and Constellations

7 September 2024–1 December 2024

*Between Circles and Constellations* explores Bouchra Khalili’s examination of hidden solidarities among transnational and stateless communities through her projects over the past 15 years. Her multimedia work, which blends personal and collective histories, emphasizes “radical citizenship”—a community beyond identity norms. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, the exhibition spans film, photography, print, and installation, highlighting global networks of solidarity.

William Kentridge: A Shadow of a Shadow

28 September 2024–8 December 2024

*A Shadow of a Shadow* surveys 17 of William Kentridge’s performances from the late 1980s to the present. Known for his theatrical, musical, and operatic projects, Kentridge’s work critiques South Africa’s social and political realities. The exhibition features drawings, stage props, and installations, emphasizing his use of shadow plays and political satire. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi.

Antonio Dias: The Search for an Open Enigma

28 September 2024–8 December 2024

*The Search for an Open Enigma* showcases the work of Antonio Dias (1944–2018), an artist who pushed material and conceptual boundaries to address sociopolitical issues. Spanning from the 1960s to the late 1990s, the exhibition highlights his mixed-media works critiquing Brazil’s dictatorship and later explorations of conceptualism and abstraction. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi.

Perform Sharjah

October 2024–January 2025

Sharjah Art Foundation’s performing arts season returns this October with a programme that engages with the city’s urban fabric, public spaces, heritage houses and theatres through a range of cross-disciplinary performances.

Sharjah Film Platform 7

15 November 2024 –24 November 2024

The seventh edition of the Sharjah Film Platform, the annual festival of independent and experimental filmmaking, returns this November. Featuring UAE premieres, the nominated films will compete in four categories: Best Fiction Feature, Best Fiction Short, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Documentary Short. The festival also includes a diverse screening programme, including the *Director in Focus* section, which honors influential regional filmmakers.

Focal Point 2024

22 November 2024 –24 November 2024

Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual art book fair highlights independent bookmaking globally, with a focus on regional publishers. It serves as a critical platform for knowledge-sharing and community building, showcasing works from artists’ presses, self-publishers, and non-commercial cultural producers who push the boundaries of publishing. The event also features talks, workshops, book launches, and signings.

Bassam Freiha Art Foundation Exhibition

14 October 2024 – 28 February 2025

The Bassam Freiha Art Foundation (BFAF) will unveil a remarkable series of exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, including *Hour Eternal*, which highlights two decades of Emirati abstract art. The gallery will also feature *Visions of the Orient* from H.E. Bassam Freiha’s collection and monumental sculptures by Anthony James and Tarek Elkassouf, exploring cultural identity and societal boundaries.

Dubai Culture promotes Arabic calligraphy through the Ornamentation and Gilding project

October 2024 -24 November 2024

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) offers workshops as part of its Arabic Calligraphy, Ornamentation, and Gilding project to nurture emerging talent. Hosted at Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children under the Dubai Calligraphy Biennale, the courses cover Ruq’ah, Thuluth, Naskh, Diwani Al Jali, and Ijaza scripts, taught by renowned calligraphers Abdul Razzaq Al Mahmoud, Musab Doori, Uday Alaraji, and Zaid Al Athamy.

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The Foundation also revealed the winner of this year’s Pitching Forum, an open-call contest for feature-length screenplays.

Over 30 regional and international films by up-and-coming and distinguished filmmakers were screened during the sixth Sharjah Film Platform. Speaking engagements, master seminars, and musical performances were all part of the yearly film festival’s schedule.

Three films per category—feature, short, and honorable mention—were chosen by an outside panel of filmmakers, reviewers, and producers for the 2018 Sharjah Film Platform Awards.

Fernando Portabales’ “Copacabana Papers” (2021) won the Best Experimental Short Film. The award went to How to Reverse a Spell: The Promise of an Archive, directed by Yasmine Benabdallah in 2022.

The short film “uses the computer screen itself as a sort of reflection on locating and accessing lost public archives in Morocco.” The jury praised the concept of “desktop cinema” and further stated that the “disappearance of this information creates important questions relating not only to Morocco but to other governments in the area as well.”

This “haunting and hypnotic short” about water, which was produced without the aid of computer effects, was chosen by the jury. “The film provided an essential reminder about the delicate state of the natural ecology on this planet,” the jury stated.

The Anis Lasso-directed film, “A Second Life, GADHA” (2022), won the Best Narrative Feature Film award. The panel declared that the movie was “both touching and inspiring. The judges were greatly moved by the actors’ performances, which were exquisitely crafted and performed.

Hello (2022), a short film by Catherine Mazoyer, won the award for Best Narrative. With its “beautiful and thought-provoking plot that escapes a somber tone,” the movie enthralled the jury.

The winner of this year’s Pitching Forum was also selected by a jury of filmmakers and business professionals. The $10,000 award went to Sameeha bint Saeed Alavi to help with the filming of her Arabic-language, feature-length screenplay titled “Nabil.”

The Pitching Forum, sponsored by Sharjah Media City (Shams), is a component of the SFP Industry Hub, which was established to encourage professionals in the film industry and to help filmmakers by putting them in contact with such professionals.

The Industry Hub also includes the Script Lab, a professional script writing school, in addition to The Pitching Forum. The most recent addition The Network of Alternative Arab Screens (NAAS) and the Film Circulation Initiative collaborate to make it possible for short and long films to be distributed through NAAS’s network and platform.

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The programme includes feature-length and short films in three categories: narrative, documentary, and experimental, and entries are accepted through an annual open call and by invitation. Along with highly regarded regional films, it will include favourites from international film festivals.

Jury prizes and panel discussions with filmmakers and business professionals are also part of the event. The SFP Industry Hub, which gives aspiring filmmakers help and professional growth, will also be a part of the festival this year.

The festival will kick off with Payal Kapadia’s Golden Eye-winning documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing from the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. The film, which blends fact and fiction, tells the tale of L, a student at the Film and Television Institute of India, who writes to her estranged sweetheart while he is gone using archival footage and student protest films.

The top narrative, documentary, and experimental films will also be honoured at an awards ceremony on the festival’s final day.

The Silences of the Palace (1994), The Season of Men (2000), and Nadia et Sarra will all be screened as part of the festival’s tribute to the late film director Moufida Tlatli (2004). The late Tunisian director, who passed away in February of last year, was honoured with numerous important cinema prizes, including the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the International Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

To honour the festival and the filmmaking community, the event will also feature a unique musical performance and a networking mixer for the first time.

Amal Waqar Trio, an instrumental trio made up entirely of women, will play at the opening ceremony on October 21 in the Al Mureijah courtyard. On October 29 at 7:00 PM, a networking event with live DJ sets will be held.

Select films will be recognised with awards in the Best Narrative, Best Documentary, and Best Experimental categories on the festival’s final day after being shortlisted by an outside panel of directors, critics, and producers.

Online ticket sales are available, with screening-specific prices starting at Dh30. Additionally, a festival pass is offered for Dh120, with student discounts.

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In its fourth year, the festival will host public talks and masterclasses with award-winning filmmakers, workshops for children, and its industry hub that supports the development and distribution of new films.

Taking place in a hybrid format this year, the films of the festival will be made available online simultaneously along with screening across Sharjah, including the Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts and the open-air Mirage City Cinema in Al Mureijah Square.

The Sharjah Film Platform will feature in-cinema screenings of films, submitted either through the festival’s open submissions process or by invitation in the segments of experimental, documentary, and narrative categories, culminating into a presentation of awards.

The film platform will commence with the screening of two films— The Myth of Manila (2021)—a film following the trials of a reporter in pandemic-hit Manila by 2021 winner Janus Victoria, and Notes for a Film about Gilgamesh (2022), a work in production by 2020 winners Pelin Tan and Anton Vidokle.

The film platform will also host workshops for children this year that will give them hands-on experience with filmmaking essentials along with an accompanying film that will be screened at the Flying Saucer building in Dasman.

The festival will also see the screening of two curated films this year— ‘Director in Focus’, highlighting the work of award-winning Palestinian director Michel Khleifi, and ‘Her Journey’, presented in partnership with Istanbul Modern, that explores the complex, women-centric stories in Turkish cinema through ten 10 feature-length and short films.

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