In the past six years Dubai has become a symbol of the most extravagant extremes of international luxury. Home to the planet’s tallest building (the Burj Khalifa) and its largest shopping mall (the Dubai Mall), this prosperous state of the United Arab Emirates launched into 2009 with a $20,000,000 party (courtesy of the Atlantis hotel), despite the fact that the global credit crunch seemed to be catching up with it. Given that perceptions of Dubai are most often formed by such headline-grabbing activities, director Philip Bloom’s new film, Sky, offers an intriguing alternate view of the city. Shot over the course of five days for use in an upcoming documentary about Dubai’s royal family, the film presents Dubai as a quiet paradise, a gleaming landscape of rolling skies and elegant architecture. Sky is one of many films on Bloom’s ongoing blog about his work and passions, and is dedicated to his friend Sky Vasser, who passed away last year.