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"For Sama" was nominated in the best
documentary field on Monday after getting four British BAFTA
nods and a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
"About three years ago I was in that place where I didn't know
if I would be alive or not and now I'm under all the light, just
trying to tell the story," al-Kateab told Reuters in London on
Tuesday.
"I hope this is a big opportunity to shine a brighter light on
the things that sadly continue to happen in Idlib and I also
hope that the people of Syria will receive some hope from the
success of 'For Sama'," she said.
The film is al-Kateab's love letter to her daughter Sama.
Narrated by al-Kateab, it was crafted out of more than 500 hours
of footage she filmed over five years, starting as an
18-year-old student in Aleppo witnessing the start of the
uprising.
The documentary chronicles events in al-Kateab's personal life -
falling in love with her friend, doctor Hamza, their wedding,
and the birth of Sama - while the conflict rages around them.
She started filming on a mobile phone and gradually moved onto
more professional equipment, while occasionally reporting for
British television from Aleppo.
The film includes life at her husband's hospital - the only one
left in the city - and families such as hers who chose to stay
in the besieged city.
Al-Kateab, then pregnant with her second daughter, Taima, and
her family were eventually forced to leave Syria for Turkey and
later London, where she joined forces with Watts to turn the
hundreds of hours of video into a film.
The first edit was too hard-hitting, the filmmakers said, and
needed toning down.
"It was a big responsibility to tell the world that this is
still happening and we can't let that happen again and again and
again. Unfortunately, as we're speaking now, this is still
happening," al-Kateab said.
The Academy Awards will be handed out on Feb. 9 in Hollywood. If
al-Kateab has her way, now 4-year-old Sama will be there with
her to share her story.
"She's very tall now, she speaks a lot. She is normal like any
other child... I hope she will be with me in the trip to
Hollywood," she said.
(Reporting by Hana Rantala; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bill
Berkrot)
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