Sharjah Art Foundation announces winners of Sharjah Film Platform 9 Awards

Sharjah Art Foundation is pleased to announce the award winners of the ninth edition of Sharjah Film Platform (SFP). Recognising outstanding cinematic achievements, the awards are granted across four categories: Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Documentary Short Film, Best Fiction Feature Film and Best Fiction Short Film.

Bringing together an international selection of filmmakers, this year's edition presented a diverse programme exploring a wide range of themes, perspectives and storytelling approaches. The works selected for the awards reflect the richness of contemporary independent cinema and its capacity to engage with social, cultural and political questions.

The winners were selected by an international jury comprising filmmakers, curators and industry professionals. The winners of Sharjah Film Platform 9 are:

Best Documentary Feature Film

The Day of Wrath: Tales from Tripoli (2026)
Director: Rania Rafei 
Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 
118 minutes 

The jury states: This film features a singular and highly complex narrative architecture. We were struck by the choir of trans-generational voices that the filmmaker braids into this new version of post-colonial history, told from the vantage point of her disenfranchised city. Emanating from a personal grief and a family archive, the film travels through decades of tragedy, political upheaval and nascent peace. It expands Tripoli from a recurring headline in the news to a vibrant city with a finely-versed community that can recount together a local history of Lebanon before it even gained independence.

Best Documentary Short Film

Shadow of Sakura (2025)
Director: Arief Budiman 
Indonesia, Japan
28 minutes 

The jury states: This film addresses justice but also accountability in a time when the act of speaking about the topic itself remains a challenge. Through a compelling visual and sonic approach, Arief Budiman opens the wounds of a region’s dark past in an attempt to seek justice for thousands of victims. Even if the film deals with an explicitly historical period, it feels very timely today, as the world is faced with multiple wars in which similar violations of the human body go unpenalised on a daily basis. Blending vivid imagery, archival footage and a call to ghosts, the filmmaker revisits places and spaces that testify to horrors endured less than a century ago, with the hope that they never happen again.

Documentary Feature Special Mention

Al Oeste, En Zapata (To the West, in Zapata) (2025)
Director: David Bim
Cuba
75 minutes 

The jury states: A story of persistence in the far end of a swamp, this film follows a character battling a harsh environment to provide for his family. It is a film about isolation and urgency but also unity, in which love remains the propeller for survival. With gripping cinematography and a very distinct soundscape, the filmmaker takes us on a journey that embodies time and space, one that nurtures empathy and lingers in the imagination long after the credits roll.

Best Fiction Feature Film

Uhlanjululo (Laundry) (2025)
Director: Zamo Mkhwanazi 
South Africa, Switzerland 
106 minutes 

The jury states: This feature film was selected for its compelling yet subtle portrayal of the apartheid era in South Africa. The film exposes the regime’s brutality, the forced fragmentation of families, and the humiliation and oppression of the Black population. The film also explores the profound deprivation inflicted by a corrupt white bureaucracy, displaying the dehumanising effects of systemic oppression.

Best Fiction Short Film

I Broke a Vase (2026)
Director: Asim Abdulaziz
Yemen, Sudan, United Arab Emirates 
15 minutes 

The jury states: This short fiction film was recognised for its deeply moving and evocative poetic interpretation and use of metaphoric visual language in its portrayal of the political landscape in Yemen. The film also resonates with struggles felt elsewhere, such as betrayal and human limitations. We were particularly impressed by the effective and subtle use of the broken vase as a metaphor.

This year's competition was evaluated by an international jury comprising:

Fiction Jury

• Hania Nashef: Professor at American University of Sharjah

• Maike Mia Höhne: Artistic Director at Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg 

• Roger Garcia: Film Festival Executive, Producer and Writer

Documentary Jury

• Mahmoud Kaabour: Filmmaker and Museum Storyteller

• Rabih El Khoury: Advisor at Berlinale’s Official Selection Programme

• Rasha Amer: Founder of She Films
   

Sharjah Film Platform provides a vital space for independent filmmakers to present their work, exchange ideas and engage with audiences through cinema. Alongside its competition screenings, the festival features a programme of regional and international films, talks, industry discussions, workshops and public gatherings.

Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, SFP9 is made possible with the generous support of VOX Cinemas, Sharjah Commerce & Tourism Development Authority, Air Arabia, Alef Group, ARADA, University of Sharjah, NYU Abu Dhabi, Zayed University, American University of Sharjah and University of the Arts Sharjah.

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 Mohammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. It was named UNESCO's Arab Capital of Culture for 1998 and the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2019.

Joseph De la Cerna
joseph@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113