Sharjah Film Platform 8 (SFP8) returns this year with more award-winning films and UAE premieres. Enjoy unlimited access to all films for 10 days and exclusive festival merchandise at Mirage City Cinema screenings for just AED 40.
The festival will take place between 14 to 23 November 2025 at Mirage City Cinema, the open-air theatre in Sharjah’s historical quarter, as well as other cinemas across Sharjah. This year’s lineup includes around thirty feature-length and short films, hailing from Lebanon, Yemen, Morocco, Kenya, Colombia and UAE.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024) is a black comedy drama that follows a Zambian family uncovering buried secrets after an unexpected death. The writer and film director Rungano Nyoni was awarded Un Certain Regard – Best Director at Cannes Film Festival for this film.
Set in an alternate world where Winnipeg and Tehran merge, Universal Language (2024) directed by Matthew Rankin is an absurdist comedy that interweaves three tales, shot in rich styles that mimic the films of the 1970s Iranian New Wave.
Supported by the Foundation’s Short Film Production Grant, Yathoom (2025) by Emirati filmmaker Hana Kazim is a drama on surviving trauma and loss. Also featured is L’mina (2025) by Randa Maroufi, a poetic short film that captures the fading industrial legacy of Jerada, a former mining town in Morocco. The film won the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize at Cannes Film Festival this year.