The awardees were selected from a pool of 350 applicants from over 65 countries who answered Sharjah Art Foundations open call for submissions.
The Short Film Production Grant, an annual initiative of the Sharjah Film Platform was given to filmmakers Julian Alexander (USA) and Emerson Reyes (Philippines).
The two will receive between them a total of $30,000.
The awardees were selected from a pool of 350 applicants from over 65 countries who answered Sharjah Art Foundations open call for submissions.
The grant aims to support the creation of original short films, which will be screened at the second edition of SFP in December 2019.
Both awardees have previously presented video work at Sharjah Art Foundation. Julian Alexanders film Léo was presented in the inaugural edition of SFP, and Emerson Reyes work Farewell to the Skin and the Dead Skin It Lived with was featured in Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013) as part of a film programme curated by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and programmed by Khavn De La Cruz.
The Short Film Production Grant is a component of the SFPan annual Sharjah Art Foundation initiative launched in 2018 as a resource to support filmmaking in the United Arab Emirates and the surrounding region.
SFP supports three core components: the curated film programme, whose upcoming edition is set to run 11 to 21 December 2019; a public programme featuring workshops and discussion; and the premieres of the Short Film Production Grant recipients films. Together, the three-pronged SFP platform continues the foundations longstanding commitment to film programming, commissions and productions, and to the support of emerging and established filmmakers, film producers, critics and students.
