ABU DHABI // A Place Called Home tells the personal stories of five expatriates, revealing their reasons for coming here, the realities of their lives and their aspirations for the future.
The documentary, produced by Abu Dhabi Media, which also publishes The National, introduces the viewers to Kalam Noor, a Bangladeshi who has established a successful tailoring business specialising in kanduras.
Then there is Mina Mirasevic, a Serbian air hostess for Etihad Airways, who has risen through the ranks to become cabin crew supervisor.
Next is Bikram Singh, an Indian crane operator who openly admits that he is a ‘zero,’ and despairs that his only response to being abused in English is to say “OK,” as he doesn’t understand. His sole goal in life is to educate his children and make sure they don’t go through the same.
There is also Evelyn Mayormita, a teaching assistant from the Philippines, and Bethi Malesh, an Indian labourer who, at the time the documentary was made, had not yet met his three-year-old son back home.
The documentary tells each protagonist’s story in detail, visiting their home countries to speak to their families and showing the audience the world they had left behind.
Each of them has come to the UAE in search of a better life, and for the most part they found it. Indeed, there are genuinely moving moments in the documentary as the filmmakers reveal how much the five have left behind in search of their dreams.
The film gives an insight into the skewed nature of global capitalism too. While the rising unemployment Mirasevic, a former international economics student, has escaped in her hometown of Belgrade is clearly unfortunate, it contrasts starkly to the Indian village where 800 of the 3,400 population work in the UAE — 80 at the construction company Arabtec alone.
It’s a global story, as precised by Noor’s 17-year old daughter Amna, who loves the education she receives here, and proudly states that her best friends are English, Jordanian, Bengali and Lebanese.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
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A Place Called Home:
■ The five UAE expats who took on the world
■ Cameraman on UAE documentary moved by subject's stories
■ Filmmakers bring home the benefits of UAE expat life
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