ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)

The Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will present a robust programme of film events this fall, bringing audiences together for contemporary Arab cinema, environmental storytelling, and international short films.

The programme begins on Monday, September 28 as CinemaNA celebrates 10 years of presenting contemporary Arab cinema at NYUAD. Curated by Oscar-nominated filmmaker and NYUAD Arts Professor of Film and New Media Scandar Copti, the series is presented by the NYUAD Film and New Media Programme in partnership with The Arts Centre.

CinemaNA opens with 'Cotton Queen', the feature film by Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani. Set in a cotton-farming village in Sudan, the visually rich film follows teenage Nafisa, who has grown up on stories of resistance to British colonial rule told by her grandmother, Al-Sit, the village matriarch. When a businessman arrives with plans for genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes central to a struggle over the village’s future. As she begins to recognise her own strength, she sets out to protect the cotton fields and define her own path.

The series continues on Tuesday, November 3 with 'Promised Sky', the second feature by French Tunisian filmmaker Erige Sehiri, whose work bridges documentary realism and narrative cinema. The film, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, centres on Marie, an Ivorian pastor and former journalist who has lived in Tunisia for 10 years. Her home becomes a refuge for Naney, a young mother seeking a better future, and Jolie, a strong-willed student carrying her family’s hopes. When a young orphan girl arrives, their solidarity is tested amid a tense social climate, revealing both their fragility and resilience.

From Friday, October 9 to Sunday, October 11, the fifth Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival returns to NYUAD in collaboration with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi. Curated by filmmaker, writer, and curator Dr Nezar Andary, the three-day festival is themed Mend, or رَمِّم‎ in Arabic. In this context, the word considers environmental restoration, from habitat and species recovery to water stewardship and the transmission of ecological knowledge. The festival places conservation practice in the Emirates at the centre of its programme.

The programme features international documentaries and short films, alongside discussions, panels, and guided ecological activities. Opening night, from 7pm on Friday, October 9, includes Werner Herzog’s Ghost Elephants, which follows conservation biologist Steve Boyes and a team of KhoiSan trackers in Angola as they search for a herd of elephants long thought lost during the country’s civil war.

Saturday’s programme begins at 2pm with 'Fungi: Web of Life', which explores the fungal networks sustaining Tasmania’s Tarkine rainforest.

At 5pm, 'Chuuraa' follows an Indigenous Sakha paleontologist descending into the melting permafrost of the Siberian Arctic in search of an ancient creature, before Sara Dosa’s Academy Award-nominated documentary 'Fire of Love' about volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft.

At 7:30pm, a conversation on food, land, and structural repair precedes Shyam Benegal’s newly restored 4K classic 'Manthan' at 8pm.

Sunday begins at 2pm with a panel on ecological restoration in the UAE featuring Emirates Nature-WWF and Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi representatives.

From 5pm, 'Seeds of Dignity' and 'Apple Cider Vinegar' explore farming, food, and the natural world, before a 7:30pm talk on water in the UAE. The festival closes at 8pm with the Academy Award-nominated animated short 'Ice Merchants' and Sara Dosa’s 'Time and Water', a reflection on glaciers, climate, memory, and family history.

Across the festival, 'Conservation Diaries', produced by the youth environmental movement Connect with Nature of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and Emirates Nature-WWF, brings stories of conservation work across the UAE’s wadis, coastlines, mangrove forests, and rural communities into the programme.

On Tuesday, October 20, Cineolio’s Cinenights returns with an international selection of five short films, curated and moderated by Emirati filmmaker Nawaf Al Janahi. Founded by Al Janahi in 2020, Cineolio promotes short films and works to expand their international audience reach.

The evening includes 'Aspis', an Italian documentary about a viper emerging from hibernation; 'Long Trip', a Belgian-Iraqi drama about a young man’s decision over his father’s burial; 'Moderator', a US drama based on anonymous accounts from social media content moderators; 'Puquio', set in Peru and centred on a 99-year-old woman’s memories and hopes for reunion; and 'Tsutsue', a French-Ghanaian drama about two brothers living near a landfill that spills into the ocean. The screening will be followed by an open audience discussion moderated by Al Janahi.

“Across these three film programmes, each curated by acclaimed Arab filmmakers in their own right,  CinemaNA, Al Sidr, and Cineolio’s Cinenights bring audiences into conversation with films, ideas, and stories from the UAE, the Arab world, and beyond,” said Bill Bragin, Executive Artistic Director of The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. “CinemaNA’s 10th year is a meaningful milestone, and these events reflect the range of what film can offer: intimate human stories, urgent encounters with the natural world, and space for audiences to exchange perspectives together, amplifying the work of Arab filmmakers.”

The programme forms part of The Arts Centre’s 12th Season, a season of renewal, connection, and collective expression that brings artists and audiences together through unrepeatable shared experiences.