The Xposure International Film Awards 2026 honoured global filmmakers whose work demonstrates purposeful storytelling and cinematic craft during a dedicated awards ceremony held on Monday. The latest edition attracted 634 film submissions from more than 60 countries, highlighting the festival’s growing international reach and its expanding focus on film as a vital visual medium.
Presented during the 10th edition of the Xposure International Photography Festival, the awards celebrated excellence across Cinematic Arts, Visual Effects, Documentary Feature, and Short Film, reinforcing film’s position as a core pillar of Xposure’s visual storytelling programme.
Through the film awards, Xposure acknowledges film as an essential medium within its wider visual culture platform, supporting cinematic works that document reality and engage with social and cultural narratives.
The awards were presented by His Excellency Tariq Saeed Allay, Director General of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), and Her Excellency Alya Al Suwaidi, Director of SGMB.
In the Best Cinematic Arts Award category, Danish Farhan (UAE) won for Bedouins of the Wind, with Kazakhstan’s Maxim Akbarov named runner-up for Steppe. The Best Visual Effects award went to Iran’s Majid Farzolahi for Story of the Earth: Anarchy, while fellow Iranian filmmaker Mahdi Hadizadeh received the runner-up prize for Holy Death.
Caspar Diederik from Netherlands won Best Documentary Feature for Muga, When She Stops Flowing, So Will We, with Portugal’s Fernando Teixeira named runner-up for Wilder Côa. The Best Short Film award was claimed by Latvia’s Sergios DeLaurentis for Crimson Silence, while Palestinian filmmaker Ahmed Deeb placed second for Farfour: A War Diary from Gaza.
The Xposure Achievement Award in Film and Documentary was presented to Abraham Joffe for Trade Secret, which also made its UAE premiere at the festival. The award honoured his sustained body of work exploring the complex relationship between people, wildlife, and the systems shaping the natural world.
Running until February 4, the 10th edition of the Xposure International Photography Festival features more than 420 photographers, filmmakers, and visual artists from around the world, presenting 95 exhibitions comprising over 3,200 artworks, alongside a cultural programme of more than 570 events, including talks and workshops.