Bollywood actor Jaaved Jaffrey introduced the film 'Champ of the Camp', the first ever feature-length documentary filmed in the labour camps of the UAE, at the 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).
Mahmoud Kaabour's highly-anticipated film was showcased at 'Screen on the Green' a new initiative for the festival.
Hosted at Burj Park, Downtown Dubai, the series offers free public screenings to 2000-seat capacity next to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.
Produced by Dubai-based Eva Sayre of the Dubai-based Veritas Films, 'Champ of the Camp' follows a massive Bollywood singing and trivia competition that has been running for many years that searches across more than 70 labour camps throughout the country to find and crown the champ of all camps.
Narrated (and sung) entirely in the voices of the labourers, the film alternates between the 'X Factor-style' suspense of the competition and the labour environment, while weaving in intimate access scenes of their daily routines as labourers in Dubai.
They find enjoyment and entertainment in the movies and music of Bollywood, performing for each other once a year in this competition on the Bollywood canon.
'Champ of the Camp' presents both a tribute and parody to Bollywood by presenting its most famous songs against the backdrop of a life of manual labour.
The film typifies the lives of Asian labourers across the Gulf, painting a portrait of this vast population of men who come to build the dream cities of the Arab world while supporting their societies and economies back home.
