In September 2010, 16 year-old Palestinian refugee Mohamad Fahed arrived in the UK to attend sixth form at Eton College – famed for educating 19 British prime ministers. There he grapples with a new culture, teaching methods and the eccentricities of a private boarding school that even British students might struggle with. Filmed over the year of the Arab spring and the Royal wedding, this is a unique insight into how a scholarship transforms one boy’s life.

I self-shot and directed this film for Al-Jazeera’s Witness strand in 2011, produced by acclaimed Minnow Films and executive produced by Morgan Matthews. The film was broadcast several times and Mohamad participated in a follow-up interview with Al-Jazeera several years later. The film has had 190,000 views on YouTube. Mohamad is currently living and working in London as a chartered engineer.