Sharjah is an emirate shaped by ideas. A place where modern architecture sits next to historical heritage districts, where empty lots become exhibition spaces and where the Sharjah Art Foundation has spent decades building one of the Arab world's most ambitious cultural ecosystems.
With the ninth edition of the Sharjah Film Platform (SFP9) running across the emirate until November 7, there has never been a better moment to give it a day.
Here’s how to make the most of those 24 hours.
8am: Arabian Tea House, Heart of Sharjah
The day should begin in the Heart of Sharjah. The Arabian Tea House sits among the district's Unesco-recognised heritage buildings, serving karak and an authentic Emirati breakfast – including eggs, balaleet and foul – in surroundings where it feels like time slows down. This is Sharjah before it gets busy, and it is worth experiencing.
10am: Take part in a SFP9 workshop at Sharjah Art Institute, Arts Square
Head to Arts Square for Sharjah Film Platform's workshops, screenings and conversations.
The morning sessions at Sharjah Art Institute are where SFP9 comes to life, featuring exchanges with filmmakers, curators and practitioners exploring the art of the moving image.
Whether you join a masterclass or a hands-on practical workshop, the conversations tend to stick with you long afterwards. Check the SFP9 programme for confirmed timings.
1pm: Fen Cafe, Al Mureijah Square
Al Mureijah Square is a cluster of low-rise white buildings around a courtyard that functions as a meeting point for the city's creative community.
Fen Cafe, on the square, has an international menu that’s worth taking your time over, with dishes that are light and seasonal – such as figs and labneh on toast – as well as heartier and more substantial, from a katsu sando to beef rendang and miso sea bass.
2pm: Visit Souq Saqr, Heart of Sharjah
The afternoon takes you back to the Heart of Sharjah for an hour at Souq Saqr, a market stocked with spices, textiles, fragrances and more alongside the Corniche in an air-conditioned space.
It offers a relaxed contrast to the curated heritage it sits alongside.
3.15pm: Vantage Point Sharjah 13, Photography Gallery, Al Manakh
The Sharjah Art Foundation's Photography Gallery at Al Manakh is home to Vantage Point Sharjah 13, a major exhibition drawn from the photographic collection of Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.
The images – gathered over decades – span portraiture, landscape and documentary photography from across the Arab world and beyond. It is an extraordinary collection, curated with the same rigour that defines the foundation's broader programme.
4.15pm: Rain Room, Al Majarrah Park
Al Majarrah Park on the Corniche is home to Rain Room, one of the Sharjah Art Foundation's most celebrated permanent works. The installation by Random International creates a field of falling rain that parts wherever you step, keeping you dry within the downpour through a live sensor system.
The effect – being inside rain without getting wet – is elemental, strange, and yet as thrilling the fifth time you experience it as the first. Walk through the park afterwards as the late-afternoon light takes hold.
5.30pm: The Flying Saucer
A short drive brings you to the Flying Saucer, a mid-century circular structure combining space-age and Brutalist influences that is one of Sharjah's architectural landmarks.
Used for cultural programming including films, workshops, performances and readings, it also has a cafe and curated library. It is worth the detour if only to stand beneath the Gulf modernist architecture that sits brilliantly in the urban landscape.
6.15pm: Explore Al Mureijah Square and the SAF Shop
As the evening arrives, Al Mureijah Square comes into its own. The Sharjah Art Foundation's SAF Shop, one of the best design and art bookstores in the Gulf, is a worthwhile stop before dinner. It stocks publications, prints and objects drawn from the foundation's programme and the wider regional art world.
Dinner follows at Bait Elowal nearby, a cultural cluster founded by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi and set around a courtyard. There are shops filled with artisanal and handmade goods sourced from across Asia, plus a restaurant that draws on influences from the Silk Road and Emirati traditions. Think pumpkin aseeda croissant, slow-cooked beef with a zaatar and peanut crust, and yuzu ganache with Sidr honey.
8pm: SFP9 screening, Mirage City Cinema
SFP9 closes the day in the most fitting way. Mirage City Cinema hosts the evening screenings, which take in new commissions, regional premieres and curated international cinema, with works produced by upcoming and established filmmakers from Palestine, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Mexico, India and Haiti, among others.
The programme features 26 titles, including Letters (2025), Josef Khallof’s anthology of 17 shorts reflecting on Lebanon’s history, and Azeem Rajulawalla’s More Punk than Punk (2025), a portrait of a Pakistani punk artist whose music fuses personal and political affiliations. Larissa Sansour’s An Incomplete Drowning (2026) closes the festival.
The Sharjah Art Foundation has run this festival long enough to know what makes a film programme matter, so it’s worth paying attention. Check the SFP9 schedule for the evening's selection.
9.30pm: The Chedi Al Bait, Heart of Sharjah
End the day at the Chedi Al Bait, a luxury heritage hotel in the Heart of Sharjah built within a cluster of traditional courtyard houses dating from the 1920s to the 1950s.
It offers an authentic Arabian experience without tipping into cheesy, with carved wooden doors and the historic circular wind tower (barjeel) of Ibrahim Al Midfa.
Its labyrinthine alleyways help you to slow down from the moment you step inside. Relax by the pool, indulge in a spa treatment or while away a few hours in the beautifully curated library and museum.
This page was produced by The National in partnership with the Sharjah Art Foundation.
