journalist

Waad al-Kateab

وعد الخطيب

Also known as: For Sama filmmaker

Journeys

For Sama: Filming the Siege of Aleppo from Inside

How a Syrian student became the world's witness to east Aleppo — filming her daughter's birth in a besieged hospital, and the deaths of the people she loved.

Biography

Waad al-Kateab is a Syrian journalist and filmmaker who documented life in besieged eastern Aleppo from inside, filming the daily reality of survival, love, and death during the city's final siege. Her footage became the Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning documentary 'For Sama' (2019), co-directed with Edward Watts, which she filmed as a letter to her daughter Sama who was born in the siege. Al-Kateab's work brought the human face of east Aleppo to global audiences who watched from outside as the city was destroyed.

Documentation Status

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Journeys1

Key Facts

Born:1991

Place:Aleppo, Syria

Nationality:Syrian