Featuring nearly 30 screenings, the 10-day festival will take place at Mirage City Cinema, Al Mureijah Square and other cinemas in Sharjah, bringing together fiction and documentary works by emerging and established filmmakers from the region and beyond.

Moviegoers can purchase the Early Bird Pass for AED40 until 7 October 2026, granting unlimited access to all films screened at the festival.

Pass holders will also receive exclusive festival merchandise and can qualify for an AED500 voucher for SAF Shops after watching any seven films during the festival. The voucher can be used at SAF Shops in Al Mureijah Square and at Rain Room.

Each Early Bird Pass will be issued as a ticket with a barcode and serial number. Advance booking is not required for individual films, although pass holders can present their passes at the box office to reserve seats for screenings.

Abderrahmane Sissako in focus

This year's Director in Focus programme features Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, who will present three of his acclaimed works, including Bamako (2006), which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Early Bird Pass holders will also have access to an in-person masterclass with Sissako, focusing on his filmmaking practice.

Regional and international films

The programme includes An Incomplete Drowning (2026), directed by Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind. Set aboard a ghostly ship drifting across the Mediterranean, the film brings together castaways from different eras of Palestinian history to explore colonialism and the role of objects in carrying history.

Also featured is Ashtar Muallem's Land of Denied Rituals (2025), an experimental short inspired by funerary rites once performed by Palestinian women and seeking to revive endangered customs through movement and embodiment.

Two films supported by the Sharjah Art Foundation's Short Film Production Grant will premiere at the festival. They are Asim Abdulaziz's I Broke a Vase (2026), a psychological drama exploring the haunting legacy of a former journalist, and Fatima Wardy's White Musk (2026), which examines the tensions that arise when a child is forced to parent their own parent.

Sharjah Film Platform Awards

Films selected by an international committee will compete in two categories for the Sharjah Film Platform Awards: Documentary and Fiction.

The Documentary Section nominees are Manuel F Contreras, Liz Chege, Chayanin Tiangpitayagorn, Bentley Brown and Bálint Bíró.

The Fiction Section nominees are Alaa Alasad, Chafic Tabbara, Djia Mambu and Toyeba Mushtaq.

The Early Bird promotion gives audiences access to the festival's diverse programme and offers additional benefits for those planning to attend multiple screenings throughout the 10-day event.