25 movies to watch in Sharjah
Festival will also screen Chahine’s films on his 10th death anniversary
The Sharjah Film Platform, a new film festival in the UAE, will kick off on Friday and run until January 26, featuring film screenings, talks and workshops. More than 140 films from 40+ countries will show across multiple venues. Here’s a guide to some of the films you can catch — and four workshops and talks you can attend.
1 Maryam (2019) — UAE — 22 min Friday at Mirage City Cinema (MCC) & January 26 at Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts (SITA) Director: Mohammad Al Hammadi
An Emirati dreams of acting in New York, but family tragedy, and her mother’s desire for her to marry, come in the way.
2 Spaces of Exception (2018) — USA, Lebanon, Palestine — 90 min Friday at MCC & January 26 at SITA
Director: Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny
This is the world premiere of
Spaces of Exception, which explores life, sovereignty and indigenous land. It was shot between America, Lebanon and the West Bank. 3
Baitna Cheshire (2017) — Sudan — 82 min Saturday & January 22 at Africa Hall
Director: Muzamil Elrayah A documentary about Khartoum Cheshire Home, a comprehensive facility for the care and treatment of children with disabilities. 4 Stone on the Road (2016) — Kuwait — 8 min Saturday & January 23 at SITA
Director: Mohammad Bloshi A manager tests job applicants by posing as a beggar outside the company. 5 Asphalt (2016) — Lebanon — 70 min Saturday & January 23 at SITA
Director: Ali Hammoud Two truck drivers, one Lebanese and one Egyptian, reflect on life behind the wheel, against a changing Arab landscape. 6 Birth (2017) — UAE — 82 min Saturday & January 23 at SITA
Director: Abdullah Hasan A family experiences life and death on the same day in their mountain village. 7 Establishing Eden — Netherlands — 10 min January 20 at MCC & January 23 at Al Hamra Cinema
Director: Broersen & Lukacs This film zeroes in on the ‘establishing shot’, when a landscape is first introduced as a character in a film. The filmmakers travel to New Zealand where The Lord
of the Rings was shot, to capture several visual possibilities. 8 KILAUEA: Pele’s Domain (2018) — USA — 29 min January 20 at MCC & January 23 at Al Hamra Cinema
Director: JoAnn Gillerman Shot over three decades at one of the world’s most active volcanoes, this story is told from the point-of-view of an indigenous Hawaiian woman in an evacuation centre. 9 Mohammed Rafi Fan Blog (2017) — India — 31 min January 20 & 24 at Africa Hall
Director: Nihaal Faizal
A look into the relationship between the director’s family and Bollywood playback singer Mohammad Rafi, featuring the filmmaker’s uncle’s now-deleted blog about Rafi. 10 I Have a Picture: Film No. 1001 in the Life of the Oldest Extra in the World (2018) — Egypt — 72 min January 20 & 24 at Africa Hall
Director: Mohammad Zedan Two film directors and a long time extra interact, leading to the realisation that everyone lives life as an extra.
11 1991 (2018) — USA — 12 min January 20 & 22 at Al Hamra Cinema
Director: Saif Alsaegh A FaceTime conversation between the filmmaker, an Iraqi
asylum seeker living in America and his mother, Bushra, an Iraqi immigrant residing in Turkey and waiting approval to immigrate. 12 Time Spy (2015) — China — 10 min January 20 & 22 at SITA
Director: Sun Xun
This 3D animation exploring the theme of ‘time’ is created out of thousands of individually handcarved woodcuts, crafted with the help of hundreds of Chinese art students. 13 2001: Pressure Makes Diamonds (2018) — UK — 13 min January 20 & 22 at SITA
Director: Kazim Rashid An experimental film examining the impact of the post-2001 War
on Terror on second- and thirdgeneration South Asian, Middle Eastern and Muslim migrants. 14 Your father was born 100 years old, and so was the Nakba (2017) — Lebanon — 7 min January 20 & 22 at SITA
Director: Razan Al Salah A Palestinian grandmother revisits her hometown of Haifa via Google Street View — the only way she can witness Palestine today. 15 Who Is Now Lying (2017) — Indonesia — 72 min January 20 & 25 at SITA Director: Mohammad Erlangga Fauzan
An unemployed man who lives with his mother has a strange nightmare that jolts him out of his sedentary lifestyle. 16 A Blink of an Eye (2017) — Saudi Arabia — 8 min January 21 at MCC & January 25 at Africa Hall
Director: Fatima Al Banawi Five stories out of Jeddah revolve around the lives of strangers who unite in a moment. 17 Petals (2018) — UK — 8 min January 21 at Africa Hall, January 24 at MCC
Director: Ghofran Gouda Inspired by a true story, Petals follows Emily, whose three sons go to war. Two die, and the third goes missing. 18 The Units of the World According to Semicolon (2011) — South Korea — 26 min January 21 at Al Hamra Cinema & January 23 at Africa Hall
Director: YoungEun Kim 12 punctuation marks, typically silent, are given a voice to represent their respective characters. The semicolon narrates. 19 Cactus Flower (2017) — Egypt — 142 min January 21 & 24 at SITA
Director: Hala Elkoussy Three homeless strangers form a bond on the streets of Cairo. 20 Ghost Mode (2018) — France — 16 min January 22 at MCC & January 25 at Africa Hall
Director: Sofia Alaoui
A group of teens spend time together over the summer in suburban Paris. One day, one of the girls fails to show up at the scheduled time. 21 Mesteka & Rehan (2017) — Egypt — 60 min January 22 & 24 at SITA
Director: Dina Abd Elsalam Two elderly widows — one Christian, one Muslim — live next to each other. They experience loneliness, until tragedy gives way to comedy. 22 Hills Without Names (2018) — Azerbaijan — 93 min January 23 at Africa Hall & January 25 at SITA
Director: Hilal Baydarov Wanderer returns to his land after many years to hear the Voice, which can only be heard there.