RTS-award winning journalist Waad Al Kateab will share her personal experiences during five years of the Syrian conflict in a new Channel 4 documentary.
Filmed from 2011 until 2016, For Sama begins with Al Kateab as a student at the University of Aleppo and follows her journey as she joins the uprising against the regime, falls in love, gets married and eventually gives birth to her daughter, Sama.
In 2016, Waad Al Kateab and her husband Hamza made the difficult decision to remain in Aleppo despite the looming approach of Syrian forces.
During this time, she lived in her husband’s makeshift hospital and began documenting the horrors for Channel 4 News before they were evacuated in December 2016.
Through her eyewitness account, For Sama reveals some of the harrowing atrocities that took place in Aleppo and is Al Kateab’s personal attempt to explain to her daughter why they chose to stay.
“I was afraid I would never make this film. I was in Aleppo and I dreamt of making it for my daughter Sama – to explain to her why we stayed,” commented Waad Al Kateab.
“I feel it does justice to our experience, our sacrifices and the unimaginable pain of what we, the Syrian people, endured during those years of war. It’s our story, our voices and I’m proud of it. This film is also for the people we lost- a testament to their sacrifices.”
