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Female Perspectives on War-Torn Syria Among Oscar Nominees for Best
Documentary

Penelope Poulou

   Two documentaries offering a female perspective on the death and
   destruction in the war-torn Syrian cities of Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta
   received Oscar nominations for Best Documentary. Waad al-Kateab's film
   "For Sama" and Feras Fayyad's film "The Cave" document civilians'
   struggle for survival in devastated cities where doctors in makeshift
   hospitals tend to throngs of injured and dying.

   Amidst airstrikes, barrel bombs and chemical attacks, citizen
   journalist-turned-filmmaker al-Kateab chronicles her daily life in
   besieged Aleppo since the beginning of the rebellion against the Assad
   regime in 2012.

   "When I filmed everything you've seen in the film, I had no idea that I
   would do a film. So, I was just documenting all these moments because I
   was sure that I would be killed and I wanted this story not to be
   dead," al-Kateab told VOA.

   "For Sama" is a visual diary dedicated to her daughter, Sama, born in
   the middle of destruction.

   Over five years in Aleppo, al-Kateab filmed thousands of hours of
   footage, recording her personal life as a young student, as a young
   bride living with her husband, Hamza, a doctor in Aleppo, and then as a
   mother.

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