Sharjah, October 15 / WAM / The eighth edition of the Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth was presented to award-winning Emirati writer and director Mustafa Abbas and programming director Maria Christina Villacinor at the New York International Film Festival for Children. During a group discussion they confirmed that the corona epidemic did not affect the world. Cinema despite the challenges created by the crisis.

The session, entitled “The Future of the Film Industry”, discussed the fundamental changes caused by the epidemic in the film industry.

Villasinor explained that virtual film festivals differ beyond geographical boundaries to reach a single audience around the world, which opens the door to many partnerships to support the film industry and to organize virtual discussion sessions with us to increase the number of international film community representations in the Middle East. Conversation on various issues related to the film industry such as.

He said that in the post-epidemic phase, New York saw a large influx of public to go to the halls and enjoy watching movies collectively.

In turn, Mustafa Abbas, director of “The Long Game”, said technological advances had contributed to accelerating the transformation of the global film industry and introducing new tools such as streaming movies simultaneously on multiple platforms. What matters to us today is not the form in which the films are presented, but rather the retention of our interest and quest to deliver cinematic content, the evaluator who has enriched the role of the film industry and contributed to its prosperity, reviewing the UAE’s successful experience in the field of short films over the past years.

Both guests concluded the session by emphasizing that technology has played a key role in bringing people together, but also demonstrated the need for more filmmakers to work together to deliver cinematic and artistic works that inspire epidemics.