Documentary Feature | Syria | 2019 | Arabic | 95 minutes
• Winner, 2019 Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for Films of Conflict + Resolution
Working with her co-director Edward Watts, 26-year-old Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab documents the story of her life over five years during the uprising in Aleppo, as she falls in love and gives birth to her daughter Sama while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. As she is faced with the decision between leaving the city to protect her daughter’s life or continuing in her country’s struggle for freedom, al-Kateab continues to keep her camera rolling on the daily lives of her and her family. Winner of the Best Documentary and Audience Awards at SXSW and the Golden Eye Award at the Cannes Film Festival, FOR SAMA is a harrowing depiction of one woman’s fight for survival in one of the world’s most dangerous war zones.
• Followed by a live taping of HIFF Co-Chair Alec Baldwin’s podcast, Here’s the Thing.