For Sama

For Sama is a 2019 documentary directed by Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts, chronicling five years of Al-Kateab’s life in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war. The film is framed as a personal letter to her newborn daughter, Sama, capturing the harsh realities of life under siege while exploring the impossible choices faced by civilians—especially women—between staying in their homeland or fleeing for safety. It offers a rare, deeply personal female perspective on war, motherhood, love, and resistance. The documentary begins in 2012 with Waad as a student, documenting peaceful protests against the Assad regime. As the conflict escalates, she continues filming while working in a makeshift hospital alongside her husband, Hamza, a doctor. The footage, often captured in real time amid bombings and chaos, reveals the brutal toll of war—children dying, families torn apart, neighborhoods reduced to rubble—juxtaposed against moments of intimacy, resilience, and defiant hope. Visually, For Sama is both harrowing and intimate, using handheld, in-the-moment footage that reflects the immediacy of its subject matter. The narration is direct and emotional, spoken from a mother to her child, giving the film a distinct narrative thread that sets it apart from other war documentaries. It refuses to sanitize or generalize the war, instead grounding it in the personal and the present. Premiering at SXSW 2019, the film won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary. It went on to earn over 60 international accolades, including a BAFTA for Best Documentary and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. It had limited theatrical release but found a wide audience through Channel 4 in the UK and PBS Frontline in the U.S., where it was broadcast to critical acclaim. For Sama has become a landmark work in conflict journalism and documentary storytelling. It not only bears witness to war but does so through the lens of a woman choosing to film, to love, and to stay—all while raising a child amid destruction.