Before the skylines, there were people.
We go to the people. The families, the founders, the workers, the artists, the ones born into it and the ones who left and still call it home. If this country is part of your story, you're part of this. And we sit with them.
More than 200 nationalities share this country. They share a school run, a lift, a queue, a Friday afternoon. It happens so quietly and so daily that nobody stops to record it. We're recording it — one face, one name and one story at a time.
The mic is open to everyone in the UAE. The longer films are chosen story by story.
Everything starts with the short films. The rest grows out of what they find.
Always-on · Weekly
Short films shot on the ground with the 200 Nationalities mic — on streets, in malls, at metro stations, at events and activations across the Emirates. A different nationality each time, all year round.
“What does the UAE mean to you?”
Founders · Every industry
The founders. The people who arrived with nothing and built the companies. Tech, beauty, hospitality groups, F&B, logistics, retail, construction — one founder at a time. The names that became industries.
One film
One film built from the stories that travelled furthest, followed properly and across a year.
Seven films · Seven homecomings
Seven longer films that take a founder home, retracing the journey from where they began to where they landed. Each one screened in the city it returns to.
Book + public mosaic
A photographic volume and a permanent public mosaic built from the portraits.
Live event
A live event bringing the whole project — and its people — into one place.
For brands, institutions and organisations who want to help carry this. Tell us who you are and what you'd want to be part of.
partner@200nationalities.aeSponsorship pillars: locations, funding, media, screening hosts.
If you live here and there's a story behind how you got here, we'd like to hear it. A few lines is enough to start.
mystory@200nationalities.ae