By dxb-kids: Documentary Captures the Birth of Dubai’s Underground Culture
With expats accounting for 89% of the population, Dubai is a transient city. People come and go. The biggest slice of Dubai’s residents fall into the 25 – 34 age bracket. Pre-Covid, clubs, pubs, festivals and beach clubs catered to their every need. And will again. But before Dubai turned into the Ibiza of the Middle East, kids who grew up here kicked off their own underground culture. Documentary in the making, dxb-kids captures their stories.
Creative Movement
The brainchild of Sameer Patel and Shehab Hamad, dxb-kids documents the birth of a creative movement in Dubai, told by those who made it happen. It focuses on the decade between 2000 and 2010. Against a backdrop of Dubai’s boom years to the 2009 market crash, dxb-kids tracks down those who kickstarted Dubai’s music and arts scene.
dxb-kids tells a tale of the first underground parties in converted spaces, beach parties and nomadic art and film exhibitions. It speaks to the founder of the region’s first DJ store. The pioneering cast includes Emirati nationals and expats of various nationalities – Pakistanis, Iranians, Brits and Americans.
The Golden Age
DJ, producer and now owner of Dubai record store The Flip Side, Shadi Megallaa is among the interviewees. “It covers what we know as the golden age of Dubai culture – or the early beginnings of alternative culture,” said Shadi. “The biggest issue for culture in this part of the world is that it rarely gets documented and because of that it’s eventually lost.”
With most of the interviews in the bag, Sameer and Shehab hope to raise funds to complete the project through Kickstarter. Now based in London, Sameer has filmed around the world. BAFTA, Cambridge University and The English National Opera have commissioned Sameer in the past. New York-based dxb-kids director Shehab is also creative director of kizikula. He previously co-founded a number of creative culture companies in Dubai.
Find out more about dxb-kids here and please support if you can. It’s a story needs that needs to be told.
Main photo: Shadi Magallaa, owner of The Flip Side
