Sharjah Film Platform 7 Roundup

After last year’s edition of Sharjah Film Platform, a part of me was hoping this year would be different and better, but another part of me expected it to be the same. Sadly, it was the latter, and I ended up just attending screenings and talks on a handful of dates.

Held between November 14-24, the line up and ticket sales were announced on November 7. I can’t even link to the line up because the Sharjah  Film Platform 7 page no longer exists on the recently revamped Sharjah Art Foundation website which has does not have a section listing Past Events (the original version of the website is still live and shows everything up to 2023).

Screenings took place at VOX Cinemas Al Zahia City Centre in the afternoons, and in the outdoor Mirage City Cinema at nights.

Audience turn out was very low just like the past editions. The few people I know who said they would’ve attended said Abu Dhabi Art and other art related events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi prevented them from attending. But as I wrote in my post last year, this festival shouldn’t just rely on an audience from Dubai or the ‘art world’.

A film festival needs to be advertised and marketed much earlier than a week before it starts, films need to be promoted so people know what’s playing and decide on what they’d like to watch. Marketing and promoting a film festival is not the same as promoting art biennials and exhibitions, it needs a different set of constant communications.  

Just like last year, the opening and closing nights were busy, the film festival opened with A Fidai Film and ended with From Ground Zero. Both are very much linked to what is happening in Gaza, and a strong and important statement made by Sharjah Art Foundation. But during the week, majority of the audience comprised of the filmmakers participating in this year’s edition and Sharjah Art Foundation staff. Quite a few of the filmmakers who I spoke to asked me where’s the audience for this festival?

To film line up itself wasn’t very strong to begin with. Sharjah Film Platform lacks its own identity and vision. It relies on a few filmmakers/curators as nominators, most of who don’t even live in the UAE. There are no overarching themes apart from showcasing ‘independent’ or 'experimental’ films, resulting in a generic film line-up that include short and feature length fiction and non-fiction films, and a disservice to the films themselves because many they’re lost in a selection where only a handful standout. 

Nevertheless, I was happy to watch a few films (thankfully all started on the this year) and heared some smart and thoughtful filmmakers discuss their work in the talks I attended. My favourite was from the panel discussion “Modern Reckonings: Contemporary Life in New African and Asian Cinema”, when Saber Zammouri, director of The Wasp and the Orchid talked about the lack of actual cinema spaces where he lives, and asked why are there police stations and pharmacies in every district, but not cinemas. 

 

I was also happy the Director in Focus this year was Mohammad Malas. The line up included a masterclass with him, but sadly we all found out last minute that he wouldn’t be attending due to health reasons. I didn’t see any public announcement about the cancellation of the masterclass, but I found out from Nezar Andary who did a talk about the films of Mohammad Malas as a replacement to the masterclass. 

In 2019, Mohammad Malas was at the second edition of Sharjah Film Platform, but at the time it was just for a talk titled “Director’s Spotlight: In Conversation with Mohammed Malas” which lasted for only 30 mins and had no chance to go on for longer because of a scheduled exhibition reception that took place in the same area.

I wrote this in my roundup that year:

It was quite unfortunate to see an an acclaimed filmmaker like Malas to be only allocated 30 minutes to talk about his career to a small number of attendees (there were more people attending the exhibition reception right after it).

I wish Sharjah Art Foundation scheduled 60-90 minutes for this talk, in an auditorium where we can properly watch clips from his films, and with a better turn out. There’s a large Syrian community in Sharjah and I wondered if they knew about the talk, surely they would fill a room to hear him speak. I also wish Sharjah Film Platform included films by Malas, as a director in focus. It would have been a great opportunity to see some of his films on the big screen.

We don’t often get filmmakers of his calibre in town, and when we do, a bigger deal should be made of it.


So it was good to see three of his films included in the line up, The Dream (1987), The Night (1992) and a brand new film Oh Father, I am Youssef which premiered in Sharjah, without much fanfare.

I had programmed The Dream in 2021 at CineMAS Film Festival at Manarat Al Saadiyat and was glad for a second chance to see it on the big screen. Filmed between 1980-81 and released in 1987, the film features Palestinian refugees, young and old, from different refugee camps across Lebanon who answer the question posed to them by Malas - What do they dream at night? 
Malas interviewed more than 400 people, and in 1982 the Sabra and Shatila massacre took place. Several of the people he interviewed were killed. He stopped working on the film but returned to it in 1986 and released a 45 minute version in 1987.

The film is poetic and full of life, and watching it this time and with the ongoing genocide, the last line in the film devastated me, this is the English translation: “You’ve seen how it is, from the store to the house, and tomorrow morning from the house to the store. This is our life. This is our destiny. Just these two meters. We hope there will be a better and a more settled life for us and for our children after us.”

Additionally, the camera movement in this scene stood out for me at this second viewing.

The film is available on YouTube with English subtitles.




I had seen The Night in the summer at Il Cinema Ritrovato, another film with an ending that I found devastating and was not ready to watch it again, but I was looking forward to seeing a new film by Malas, so new that I couldn’t find it listed on IMDb or find much information about it online. The only synopsis I could find for Oh Father, I am Youssef was on Sharjah Art Foundation’s website:

A still from Oh Father, I am Youssef (Mohammad Malas, 2024)

While Syrian artist Youssef Abdelke’s paintings and visual works form the essence of this film, it is his dialogue with the director Mohamad Malas that constitutes the backbone of the documentary. Deeply engaged with his birthplace of Qamishli, then Damascus and later Paris, Abdelke did not find his ‘paradise’ in a specific place but rather in resistance to the harsh realities of human existence.


I am not too familiar with Youssef Abdelke’s work, so I found it informative and moving listening to him talk about his art, his imprisonment, his exile and his return to Syria. We see him making charcoal drawings, and Malas films his older works too.

Youssef Abdelke’s drawings are sensual and haunting, we see him working on At the Prison Gate (2021) throughout the film, all of which are acts of resistance and a record of memories. 

 

Resilience, resistance and a record of memories were the core themes in From Ground Zero, a film anthology made by Palestinians in Gaza from October 2023 onwards, a film project produced and supervised by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi.

I was intending to only attend the talk with Rashid Masharawi moderated by Nezar Andary to learn about this project, and wasn’t intending to watch it because I told myself it would be a difficult experience.

But after hearing Masharawi talk about the conditions during the filming and the courage by the filmmakers to share their stories, I told myself I should have the courage to watch it, and I’m very glad I did.

It’s an essential film project about human resilience in Gaza not covered in mainstream news. During the talk, Masharawi said his aim was to get the filmmakers share the untold human stories about Gaza, and not just stories of death and destruction shown in the news. More importantly, they have to think of cinema as a form of story telling and not just to document what they see. 

There are 22 films in total that include fiction and non-fiction stories in various forms and lengths. They are screened in a specific order (I’ve listed all the titles below) with a short break after the 11th film.

We see untold stories like: 

From Ground Zero: Sorry Cinema (Ahmed Hassouna, 6.56 min), courtesy of Rashid Masharawi.

  • How to avoid having to listen to the constant sounds of drones or bombings by listening to music via headphones to drown them out (Flash Back by Islam Al Zrieai)

  • Having to use the same water to cook, bath, wash clothes and even water the few existing plants (Recycling by Rabab Khamees)

  • Giving up filmmaking to use the clapboard to burn the wood for warmth and to cook (Sorry Cinema by Ahmad Hassouna)

  • Queuing in line for water only to learn its finished when its your turn, or trying to recharge a phone but there are no available charging outlets because many more people got there before you (The Teacher by Tamer Najm)

  • A young student visiting his teacher’s graveyard (School Day by Ahmed Al-Danf)

  • Children who can’t sleep because they’ve written their names on their bodies in case they are killed by bombs whilst sleeping (Soft Skin by Khamees Masharawi)

  • In a span of one day, a man that gets rescued three times from the rubbles of collapsed buildings where each time he thought he was safe from targeted military attacks (24 Hours by Alaa Damo)

  • A father who lost his memory in an explosion in 2014, regains it in another explosion in 2024 only to prefer to lose his memory again (Awakening by Mahdi Karirah)

  • Finding and holding on to joy in music and singing amidst the destruction (No by Hana Awad)


I left the screening feeling hopeful and energised. From Ground Zero needs to be seen by more people, especially politicians and policymakers in the West. I recently learned that it was included in the line up at Cannes, but was removed from the selection. As an act of protest Rashid Masharawi organised a screening just outside the festival in a tent.

It has been shown at other film festivals including TIFF and I hope it continues to travel far and wide.

 

Still from To Remain in the No Longer © Joyce Joumaa

To Remain in the No Longer (by Joyce Joumaa, 2023) and Surveilling a Crime Scene (Alana Hunt, 2024) were two other standouts for me.

Both were part of one short film program and these two had some connecting threads about violent pasts and failure of present day politics. 

Set in Tripoli, Lebanon, filmed on 16mm and digitally, and using archival materials and interviews, the central image in To Remain in the No Longer is Oscar Niemeyer’s incomplete plans for an international fairground from 1962.

What remains of the architecture look like ruins, and whilst we see observe scenes of daily activities in the city, from people lounging on benches in public spaces, to busy streets and venues that may have seen more glamorous and glorious days in the past.

We hear voiceovers from interviews with different protagonists discussing Lebanon’s past ambitions and policies to modernise, the civil war and the current socio-economic crisis. It is smart, beautifully shot, and an interrogation on the failure of politics in the country. 

Alana Hunt, Surveilling a Crime Scene Super 8 film-still, courtesy of the artist.


Set in Miriwoong Country in Australia and shot on Super 8mm, Surveilling a Crime Scene is about present day settler colonialism, tourism and development, all at the expense of the indigenous population and their displacement, a vicious and violent cycle that never seems to end.




 

These are all the films I watched, I attended 5 days only:

  • Coconut Generation (Alain Kassanda, 2023)

  • The Dream (Mohammad Malas, 1997)

  • Short films screened together:
    Petit Cahier du Cinema (Huang Pang-chuan, 2023)
    Surveilling a Crime Scene (Alana Hunt, 2024)
    On the Battlefield (Ray Whitaker, J.P. Sniadecki, Lisa Marie Malloy, Theresa Delsoin, 2024)
    Ever Since I Have Been Flying (Aylin Gökmen, 2023)
    To Remain in the No Longer (by Joyce Joumaa, 2023)

  • Oh Father, I Am Youssef (Mohammad Malas, 2024)

  • From Ground Zero, a collection of 22 short films supervised by Rashid Masharawi:
    Part 1
    1. Selfies (Reema Mahmoud, 7.49 min) 
    2. No Signal (Muhammad Al Sharif, 4.19 min) 
    3. Sorry Cinema (Ahmed Hassouna, 6.56 min) 
    4. Flash Back (Islam Al Zeriei, 5.21 min) 
    5. Echo (Mustafa Kolab, 2.32 min)
    6. Everything Is Fine (Nidal Damo, 4.29 min) 
    7. Soft Skin (Khamis Masharawi, 7.54 min) 
    8. Charm (Bashar Al Balbisi 4.12 min) 
    9. The Teacher (Tamer Najm, 5.15 min) 
    10. School Day (Ahmed Al Danaf, 3.09 min) 
    11. Overburden (Alaa Ayoub, 3.52 min) 

Part 2
1. Hill Of Heaven (Karim Satoum 4.47 min) 
2. 24 Hours (Alaa Damo, 6.02 min) 
3. Jad And Natalie (Aws Al Banna, 3.13 min) 
4. Recycling (Rabab Khamis, 3.15 min) 
5. Taxi Waneesa (Etimad Washah, 4.48 min) 
6. Offerings (Mustafa Al Nabih, 4.43 min) 
7. No (Hana Eleiwa, 7.31 min) 
8. Farah And Meryam (Wissam Moussa, 5.43 min) 
9. Fragments (Basel El Maqousi, 3.24 min) 
10. Out of Frame (Neda’a Abu Hasna, 6.51 min) 
11. Awakening (Mahdi Kreirah, 4.53 min) 






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