Waad al-Kateab films the ruins of a building destroyed by bombing in besieged east Aleppo. Courtesy of PBS Distribution
Online registration is closed and the event is capacity.
You are welcome to come to the Museum and wait to see if space is available once the pre-registered attendees are seated; however we cannot guarantee available seating.
Join us for a screening of For Sama, the award-winning documentary presented as a love letter from a young mother, Waad al-Kateab, to her then one-year-old daughter, Sama, as it chronicles five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria. While cataclysmic conflict rises around her, Waad falls in love with a doctor, gets married, and gives birth to Sama.
This documentary, which won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and numerous other awards, is an intimate journey into the female experience of war, created by Emmy award-winning filmmakers Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts. Waad’s camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as she wrestles with an impossible choice—flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, or stay to continue the struggle for freedom. She started filming the student protests in 2011 to counter regime propaganda and later focused on the cruel realities of one hospital’s efforts to cope with the sheer number of casualties.
For Sama has received numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
A conversation with Waad, Hamza and Edward will follow the screening.
Opening Remarks
Halina Peabody, Holocaust survivor and Museum volunteer
Welcome Remarks
Raney Aronson-Rath, Executive Producer, FRONTLINE
Speakers
Dr. Hamza al-Kateab
Waad al-Kateab, Director/Producer/Cinematographer, For Sama
Edward Watts, Director, For Sama
Moderator
Naomi Kikoler, Director, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
This program is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. For more information, please contact calendar@ushmm.org.