An artist from Iran has been picked to make the music video for Sir Elton John’s hit song Rocket Man just two years after fleeing his home for the Calais Jungle.
Majid Adin was granted asylum and the right to work in the UK in 2016, a year after, fearing persecution, he journeyed across Europe and arrived in Calais.
Adin won a global music competition to create a video for the song with plans to channel the story of being a refugee into his creation.
“The rocket is not just a rocket. It is a boat, a lorry, a train. The rocket is movement, Mars is London, a new city, a new world,” he said.
“Rocket Man is the story of a journey, and someone separated from those they love… As I listened again and again, I heard the story of a refugee.”
Sir Elton and collaborator Bernie Taupin launched the competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their songwriting partnership.
The videos for Tiny Dancer, Bennie And The Jets and Rocket Man, which were released before the rise of the music video, will go on YouTube.
Winners for each song also receive $10,000 (£7,700).
The other winners are Jack Whiteley, an award-winning music video and commercials director based in London, for Bennie And The Jets, and Max Weiland, a director from the UK who has already made music videos for The Vaccines, for Tiny Dancer.
The final videos will be revealed later this month.
