In 2018, we partnered with Wunderman, an internationally award-winning advertising agency, to film a piece on Charicycles, to raise awareness to the need for protective gear for low-income workers in Dubai. Charicycles is a socially and ethically-driven bicycle manufacturer, focusing on restoring old abandoned bikes while promoting a cleaner environment. We collaborated on the ‘Stories In The Sand’ campaign in which Charicycles aimed to promote their charity work providing low-income labour workers in the city with high-visibility vests and helmets to keep them safe on the roads at night. To achieve this and tell the workers’ stories, they created customised tyres that featured etched symbols that represented their lives. These would then be imprinted in the sand on the ground as the workers biked to their jobs.

We decided to tell the stories of Shankar Kunarapu and Sageer Ahmed, two domestic workers in Dubai who cycle the dangerous roads of the busy city every day to get from work to home. To do this, we conducted interviews with them in which they emotionally opened up about their daily struggles and their fears for their lives as they cross busy highways in the dark of night. We also filmed the creation of the customised tyres, and the powerful imprints left in the sand as the workers set off on their bikes.

We provided a team of one director, one producer, one camera operator and one assistant across the successful two-day shoot, resulting in strong visuals and beautifully-captured footage.

We then created a 90-second film showcasing the workers’ struggles, and the inspiration aim Charicycles hopes to achieve through donations. This was later submitted to the 2019 Dubai Lynx awards and was promoted to hundreds of thousands of viewers through various news sites. The film gained traction in the socialite community and was very well-received by its international viewings.