The 8th Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFF 2021), running until October 15, offered attendees a unique opportunity to reflect on the evolving role of independent films and their impact on regional cinema, at a panel discussion titled ‘Independent Films’ held yesterday (Tuesday) evening.

Big names in the UAE’s and regional industry participated in the virtually held discussion, namely, Khaled Al Mahmoud, award-winning Emirati filmmaker who studied filmmaking in the US and whose work has been shown at prestigious festivals worldwide; Egyptian director, writer and producer, SherifElbendary, whose short film ‘Curfew’ was shown at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2011; filmmaker and creative consultant Mahmoud Kaabour based in Dubai and Berlin whose multi-lingual productions have been shown at top-tier festivals worldwide; and Hana Kazim, Manager of Local Film & TV at Image Nation Abu Dhabi.

The session was moderated by renowned Emirati actor and director, Nawaf Al Janahi, whose feature film ‘Sea Shadow’ (2011) toured across 27 countries, which is considered the most remarkable tour for an Emirati feature film to date.

Talking about the need to popularise the culture of private funding to promote this genre, Hana remarked: “Independent cinema thrives with private funding which doesn’t exist in studio films. This is something I really want to achieve for the UAE and the region as I chart my journey towards becoming a maker of independent films. These films attract important filmmakers who deal with topics that take our culture and our creativity to the rest of the world.”

For his part, SherifElbendary said independent films means directors have creative freedom, because they can make the film without coming under any influence and have the luxury of selecting the topic and type of production, as well as set the goals of the film.

Khaled Al Mahmoudagreed with Elbendary’s view and said he relates the extent of creative freedom in independent films to the source of funding. He said if there was one source of funding, it may force the director to do something that might jeopardise the independence of the film.

Defining independent films, Mahmoud Kaabour likened the process of coming up with an idea for an independent film to a PhD candidate who choosing their thesis topic. The difference according to Kaabour is that a film is the collective output of groups; each of them is held accountable to a certain aspect of the film.

In the upcoming days of SIFF 2021, more panel talks will be led by film and media experts from the region and across the world on topics as interesting and varied as role of women in films, the future of the film industry, role of festivals in promoting films, and evolution of animation in production.

The entire SIFF programme comprising 80 film screenings including 6 world premieres, 34 workshops and 5 panel discussions can be attended online for free by registering on this link: https://siff.ae/.