GULF WEEKLY -
More than 500 film-lovers are expected to gather next week for the second edition of Bahrain’s Student Film Festival, highlighting emerging filmmaking talent in the kingdom.
Thirteen short films will be showcased at Al Liwan Cinema as part of the event on Tuesday, October 20, alongside a first-of-its-kind Film Pitch Expo, in which up-and-coming filmmakers will pitch and crowdfund their projects in front of the community.
“Last year was about proving that a cross-university student festival could exist,” festival director Mujtaba Hasan told GulfWeekly.
“This year, we’ve moved from showcasing films to helping make them.
“We ran development labs that supported student productions with sponsor backing.
“We added a Pitch Expo where unshot films can raise funding. We believe it is the first event of its kind in Bahrain, and it relies entirely on the community getting behind the next generation of filmmakers.
“And we’re building Industry Connect to link students with working professionals.”
This year, the festival is also set to have a bigger stage - twice the size of last year’s attendance.
The 13 films being showcased this year were made by student filmmakers in 2025 and 2026, and selected from a pool of 38 submissions from six universities across the kingdom.
“The jury of industry professionals selected the 11 strongest films for the competition and also decided the awards,” Mujtaba added.
“Two further films in the programme came out of Student Film Festival Bahrain’s own initiatives - one from our filmmakers lab and one from a script competition hosted by the festival, bringing the programme to 13 films.”
Doors and the red carpet open at 4pm, with screenings starting at 6pm in Halls 6 and 7, followed by an awards ceremony at 9pm. All films will have English subtitles.
According to Mujtaba, the festival has given students an incentive to put more into their films, which translates into more practice, experimentation, and a wider filmmaking community in Bahrain.
“What’s still missing is a pathway that lets students work on bigger, more ambitious projects that can compete regionally and internationally,” he added.
“That’s the gap we are trying to close.”
For more details, follow @sffbahrain on Instagram.
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