Transit Dubai

For her film Transit Dubai, Dutch director Ineke Smits followed a few inhabitants of a place that is sometimes called 'the new America'. As a matter of fact, Dubai does look like a miniature equivalent of what people once called the land of boundless opportunities. Skyscrapers, office blocks and hotels rapidly spring up on the horizon and Dubai is portrayed as an oasis of peace and prosperity where everyone seems happy. Or at least rich. Swedish women explain how their lives have changed since their move to Dubai and that they at last have time for the children, because local women have taken over the housekeeping chores. Western influences have changed the local people. For example, we learn that the men of Dubai flirt a lot, also with women wearing burkas. This takes place very discreet and modern via Bluetooth. A salesman of musical instruments says what is still missing in Dubai: art and culture, the soul of a metropolis. Smits also followed some participants in a photography workshop who do what she does: capture Dubai and its surroundings. One participant tells about his pictures of a simple cook in a village near Dubai, which taught him something very special: that one can be happy with very little, too. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)