The energy around this year’s Sharjah Intl. Film Festival for Children and Youth points to a bigger story unfolding across the Emirate of Sharjah, which is in the United Arab Emirates: the emergence of a creative economy with real infrastructure behind it. At its center is Sharjah Media City – also known as Shams – a young but fast-growing media and production hub betting that the next generation of Arab storytellers will want to build their careers closer to home. ‘Roofman’ and Channing Tatum