A Baqala is the equivalent to the Corner Store
Seemingly always open and ready to serve
Where you went when everything else was closed
A Baqala
Small groceries or “baqalas” are a feature of UAE’s urban landscape.
On average, each one operates for 18 hours a day, seven days a week
Delivery men extend Baqala's wares to every doorstep in the immediate neighbourhood.
And often beyond..
Baqala, is a nocturnal sojourn that celebrates the corner store culture of Dubai. A fixture in every Gulf region childhood and current day life, these stores have come to represent an early cultural aesthetic of the young city and some of our earliest memories. During the film, three skaters 'baqala hop' the streets and suburbs of Dubai in a neon tinged dream dotted with portraits of store keepers, store fronts that drip with the remnants of a pop art reverie and my ode to bubblegum.
Writer & Director - Amirah Tajdin
Co Writter – Hussain Moloobhoy
Producer – Wafa Tajdin
Executive Producers – Hussain Moloobhoy, Joshua Cox, Rajat Malhotra
Cinematographer – Daniel Vignal
Editor – Thomas Simon
Music – ‘The Cocobut Song’ by Alo Wala feat. Brooklyn Shanti