Sharjah Art Foundation is pleased to announce the awardees of the eighth edition of Sharjah Film Platform (SFP), recognising outstanding films across four categories: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Fiction Feature and Fiction Short.
For the 2025 edition, films in the competition programme were nominated by an international committee of filmmakers. The selection featured a wide range of films from different parts of the world, including Ecuador, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Zambia and the UAE, among others.
An international jury then reviewed the selected films and determined this year’s SFP award winners. The jury members included:
Fiction
• Lindiwe Dovey: Professor of Film and Screen Studies at The School of Oriental and African Studies University of London
• Hania Mroué: Founder of Metropolis Cinema, Lebanon
• Soleil Gharbieh: Film Program Manager at Arab Fund for Arts and Culture
Documentary
• Dora Bouchoucha: Producer and Founder of Nomadis Images
• Chalida Uabumrungjit: Director of the Thai Film Archive, Thailand
• Manuel F. Contreras: Documentary Filmmaker and Educator
SFP8 Award Recipients:
Best Documentary Feature Film
Marching in the Dark (2024)
Director: Kinshuk Surjan
Belgium, India, Netherlands
109 Minutes | Marathi with Arabic and English subtitles
Fighting against traditional cultural norms where widows are cast aside, Sanjivani is determined to provide a better future for her children after her farmer-husband’s suicide. She joins a discussion a group where the women band together to end the cycle of debt and climate-related instability. Empowered by community, shared stories of resilience and unexpected solidarity, Sanjivani cautiously forges a path forward.
Best Documentary Short Film
Morgenkreis (Morning Circle) (2025)
Director: Basma Al-Sharif
Canada, United Arab Emirates
20 Minutes | Arabic, Armenian and German with Arabic and English subtitles
This short visceral narrative film unfolds in three parts, each describing loss. From the earliest experiences of separation to the imperceptible violence associated with integrating into a new country when yours is no longer livable, Morgenkreis follows a father and son in their intimate rituals as they prepare to start the day and head to kindergarten. Morgenkreis is an ode to migrant assimilation under western cultural power structures.
This film is supported by the SFP Short Film Production Grant (2024).
Best Fiction Feature Film
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
Director: Rungano Nyoni
Zambia, United Kingdom, Ireland
99 Minutes | Bemba and English with Arabic and English subtitles
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Best Fiction Short Film
Le Diable et la Bicyclette (The Devil and the Bicycle) (2024)
Director: Sharon Hakim
France
24 Minutes | Arabic with English subtitles
Yasma is a 13-year-old Lebanese girl whose parents are of different faiths. As she prepares for her First Communion, she finds herself navigating emerging feelings of sensuality and the weight of cultural expectations. In the midst of a religious rite of passage, Yasma discovers the often unspoken boundaries between innocence and self-awareness.
Sharjah Film Platform (SFP) is an annual festival of independent cinema and experimental filmmaking where audiences can discover new approaches to film and art. The 10-day event—which includes a range of regional and international films, talks by filmmakers and industry professionals, workshops and gatherings—is centred around Mirage City Cinema, the open-air theatre in Sharjah’s historical quarter.
Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, SFP foregrounds recent cinematic achievements by international filmmakers and artists, noteworthy classics from around the region as well as experimental films that challenge the idea of what film practice is today.
Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.
Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation’s deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation’s support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world.
Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. Hoor Al Qasimi serves as President and Director. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.
Sharjah is the third largest of the seven United Arab Emirates and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and has been designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital’ for the year 2019.
Alyazeyah Al Marri
alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113
