HUMAN RIGHTS DOX
For Sama
Directors
Edward Watts
Waad al-Kateab
Producers
Waad al-Kateab
Cinematographers
Waad al-Kateab
Editors
Chloe Lambourne
Simon McMahon
Sound
Jez Spencer
Official Film Website
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2019
United Kingdom, Syria
35 min
Color
FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five
years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her.
Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice – whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five
years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her.
Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice – whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Director
In January 2016 Waad al-Kateab started documenting the horrors of Aleppo for
Channel 4 News in a series of devastating films simply titled Inside Aleppo.
The reports she made for Channel 4 News on the conflict in Syria, and the most
complex humanitarian crisis in the world, became the most watched pieces on the UK
news programme – and received almost half a billion views online and won 24 awards
– including the 2016 International Emmy for breaking news coverage.
Edward Watts is an Emmy award-winning, BAFTA nominated filmmaker who has
directed over twenty narrative and documentary films that tell true stories of courage,
heroism and humour from across the world, covering everything from war crimes in
the Congo to the colourful lives of residents in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
More films in HUMAN RIGHTS DOX
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