Oscar-shortlisted 'Sun Children' to screen as part of Sharjah Art Foundation's Spring Film Series

Oscar-shortlisted film 'Sun Children' will be showing at Sharjah's Mirage City Cinema on March 26. Sharjah Art Foundation

A Moroccan satire, a sub-Saharan political drama and an Oscar-shortlisted film about a group of street children in Tehran are the works screening at the Spring Film Series, hosted by the Sharjah Art Foundation.

All three films in the series explore themes of sacrifice, showing how its characters manoeuvre social and political dilemmas while trying to achieve their ambitions.

The screenings, which will be held at Mirage City Cinema, are free to attend. However, advance booking is required as the venue has a limited audience capacity in line with Covid-19 social distancing measures.

The series will launch on Friday with a screening of The Unknown Saint. The comedy, directed by Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem, tells the story of a thief who returns to a village in Morocco to recover a bag of money he hid years ago in a fake grave, only to discover that it has since become a shrine to an unknown saint.

The film was nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and won Best Feature Film at the 2020 Tangier International Film Festival.

The political film The Milkmaid will be showing on Friday, March 5. Directed by Nigerian filmmaker Desmond Ovbiagele, the tragic drama revolves around Aisha, a Fulani milkmaid who confronts religious extremists in the sub-Sahara while on a quest to find her missing sister.

The film was Nigeria’s submission for the 2021 Academy Awards.

Finally, the series will screen the Iranian drama Sun Children on Friday, March 26. The film follows a group of street children as they do whatever they can to survive and support their families, going through a litany of odd jobs and resorting to petty crimes for easy money.

The film won its director, Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi, the Lanterna Magica Award at the 2020 Venice International Film Festival.

It has also been shortlisted for the 2021 Academy Awards.

To book tickets to the film screenings, visit ticket.sharjahart.org

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Read more:

Oscars 2021: Which Arab films have officially been submitted?

Oscars 2021: Two films by Arab directors are shortlisted

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