In much of the world, children’s cinema still struggles to be recognized, too often seen as educational programming rather than an artistic or commercial force. Sharjah International Airport. The Children’s Film Festival, which recently concluded its 12th edition (October 6-12), presents a compelling counterargument. The festival has evolved from a regional showcase to a gathering point for a growing international movement, which sees children not only as spectators, but also as participants, critics and creators.
During a week of screenings, workshops and intercultural exchanges, SIFF reaffirmed that children’s stories are not a niche, but a laboratory of empathy, creativity and imagination.
Here are five takeaways from this year’s festival.
Junior jurors: when children become the critics
SIFF’s junior jurors continue to embody the founding idea of the festival: that film education begins not only in classrooms, but also in conversation. For many participants, the experience was transformative.
Fourteen-year-old Yukhti Sharma called the role “a privilege that lets you see how films really work, from the pacing to the angles to the emotion.” Hawraa Yaser, another juror, said it taught her “young people can make a difference in the way stories are told”, while Amal Abdulaziz Alabdouli observed that she now watches films “for the symbolism, the rhythm and the way the music changes the mood”.
Their comments reflect how the program reframes the status of spectator as author. By inviting children to deliberate, argue, and choose winners, SIFF essentially teaches media literacy as a creative discipline, cultivating an audience that interprets film critically, not passively.
It’s a form of empowerment: entrusting children with taste, not just entertainment.
Global Connect: children’s cinema finds its voice
One of the most notable events at this year’s SIFF was not on screen but in discussion halls like the Global Children and Youth Film Congress, where festival directors from around the world compared notes on the triumphs and challenges of supporting children’s cinema.
From Johannesburg, Firdoze Bulbulia, founder of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Film Festival, reminded his peers “children are the most important investment a society can make. Their minds are open, curious, full of possibilities –– not yet jaded by cynicism.” Too often, she noted, “the industry as a whole neglects this space because it doesn’t promise immediate commercial returns. But the real value lies in how young audiences perceive the world and each other.” Through initiatives such as the African Children’s Broadcasting Charter, Bulbulia has spent decades turning this belief into policy: children’s media is not charity or pedagogy but a civil right.
Ralm Lee, director of the South Korean company Busan Intl. The Children’s and Youth Film Festival takes a scientific approach. BIKY partners with filmmakers, educators, scientists and local businesses to study how stories influence empathy and cognitive development. “Children’s cinema is not a secondary genre, it’s where the future of storytelling begins,” she explained. “Once people witness the impact, like a child making their first film, or a discussion with the audience that changes the way adults perceive the world, it is impossible to consider this field ‘small’.”
Indian Shruti Rai, who runs the Chinh India Kids Film Festival, echoes this belief through her Chinh Media Literacy program, which trains schoolchildren to make their own films. Chinh was also the first festival in the world to introduce a pre-primary jury, in which children aged three to seven evaluate films made for their age group, a bold leap of faith that redefines what “youth participation” could mean. “We are not waiting for adults to make films for children,” Rai stressed. “We teach children to build their own cinematic universe. We sow seeds that take years to grow, but they grow.”
Together, these filmmakers and many others at SIFF form an emerging network with common goals, rooted in education, access, and storytelling itself. Sharjah’s role is less about leading and more about connecting, bringing voices from around the world into a single conversation about what children’s cinema can be.
Infrastructure as vision: Sharjah builds a creative ecosystem
SIFF’s growth is part of a broader creative vision taking shape in the emirate of Sharjah. Sharjah Media City (also known as Shams), a key festival partner, has rolled out new production spaces, digital media programs and talent incubators designed to transform cultural investment into long-term industrial infrastructure. The synergy with SIFF is not structural, the two entities operate separately, but philosophical: both see youth and creativity as a long-term infrastructure.
SIFF Director Sheikha Jawaher bint Abdullah Al Qasimi has often described the festival as a bridge between education and industry, a place where imagination becomes a professional path. With Shams expanding the technical side of this equation, Sharjah is effectively creating an ecosystem where storytelling and entrepreneurship are mutually reinforcing.
At a time when “creative economy” has become a global buzzword, Sharjah’s approach seems particularly sound. Its bet on culture is not a branding exercise, but a lasting public and civic investment.
Investing locally: UAE voices in the spotlight
For young Emirati filmmakers premiering at or returning to SIFF, this infrastructure cannot come soon enough. Fatimah Alshamsi described the current moment as a time of opportunity but also fragility. “The real support starts at the end of the festival,” she explained. “We need labs, grants and mentorship that allow us to move between festivals and connect with patrons who believe in a local scene.”
His film “Wa’ad”, which was part of the Arab short films section and warmly received by the audience, reminded him that the next phase of Emirati cinema begins with its youngest viewers. “The children present at my screening were not shy,” she remembers. “They gasped, laughed, and even scolded the characters. It showed me that our stories don’t need external validation. They can grow from how our children see themselves.”
Filmmaker Ali Fuad, who won top honors in the documentary section for “Guardians of the Mountains,” sees storytelling as a means of preservation. “Someone once told me that we had nothing to show our children about our past,” he recalls. “It’s this sense of responsibility that motivates me.” Fuad hopes to present the UAE’s history to global audiences “in its authentic form, not as a stereotype, but as a memory.”
Together, these filmmakers embody Sharjah’s challenge: by investing early in local creators, the emirate can build a cinematic culture that is both exportable and deeply rooted.
The digital future: expanding access through technology
If the soul of SIFF lies in tradition, its gaze is resolutely turned towards the future. This year’s edition featured AI-assisted editing, mobile filmmaking and digital publishing workshops, encouraging participants to write, shoot and cut short films directly on their own devices.
The initiative is less about novelty than about access. In a region where film schools remain rare, smartphones have become entry-level studios, tools for both creation and inclusion.
Festival director Sheikha Jawaher bint Abdullah Al Qasimi called it “a future where every child with a story and a smartphone can become a filmmaker.” This philosophy reframes technology as a way to democratize creativity without diluting it.
By adopting mobile and AI tools, SIFF does not follow trends but breaks barriers, transforming digital literacy into artistic agency. In a space where stories once required institutions, the next generation is learning to build their own.
Takeaways
Through these themes and more, this year’s SIFF positioned children’s cinema not as an offshoot of the industry but as its conscience. In Sharjah, the future of cinema looks less like spectacle and more like stewardship. Younger voices are not waiting to inherit the medium, they are already reshaping it.
