“For Sama,” a documentary that depicts an Aleppan mother's struggle to raise her daughter amid the Syrian war, won the best documentary award at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). The modest-budget film is also one of the few from the Middle East to make the 2020 Academy Awards' short list for best documentary.
“I take this award for the great Syrian people who are still suffering; and to the great heroes — the doctors, nurses, humanitarian workers and volunteers,” said Channel 4 News journalist Waad al-Kateab, the film's co-director and main character, at the awards ceremony Feb. 2. Kateab attended the ceremony in London with her daughter, Sama, the documentary's namesake, and her husband, surgeon Hamza al-Kateab.
