For Sama

A woman who picked up a camera as a university student in Aleppo records the siege of the city for five years. In that time she marries, comes to live in a hospital, and gives birth to a daughter. The documentary is built as a letter addressed directly to her daughter; the narrative questions a woman's decision to stay and what that decision does to her child. All the footage was shot from inside the events on her own camera. Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts directed. The recordings are the director's own. A real warning: it contains real footage of dead and injured children, including surgery. It is not fiction and it is very hard to watch.