“When I was eighteen I left Qatar to study film in Hollywood. I always dreamed about becoming a filmmaker. I was a young boy and all I had ever seen before was the desert. The first three months were the hardest. I was living with an American family and even though they treated me well I was terribly home sick. Back then we didn’t have things such as Skype or Face time. I could call my parents only once a week for just a few minutes. I felt isolated at first but after 3 months I started to feel better. America was a place I only knew from the movies but then I realized not everything you see in the movies is true. In Qatar everything is about family so when you are on your own all of a sudden it is quite a shock. Now I needed to take care of myself. Make my own dinner and do my own laundry. Once I started to get more independent I was able to create a life for myself. It helped me build my personality. I started to grow and I studied and worked and just learned. Once I had all this freedom It’s was a struggle to come back to the old ways. I came back after five years and I realized that I grew and it was hard to fit back in again.”
(Doha, Qatar)