Channel 4 News documentary For Sama, filmed and narrated by journalist Waad Al-Kateab about her life under siege in the Syrian city of Aleppo, is in the running for an Oscar.
The film has made the longlist of films in contention for the Documentary Feature award at the 92nd Academy Awards to be held next year, it has been announced. The list was made up from 159 entries.
Al-Kateab’s dispatches from Aleppo for Channel 4 News as regime forces closed in were seen by millions on TV and online. She fled the country in December 2016 and now claims asylum in the UK.
Her work earned her an Emmy and a British Journalism Award.
In the UK she worked with Channel 4 News to cut For Sama, named after her first child, born amid the bombing of Aleppo, from more than 300 hours of footage she had taken, including drone shots.
The film spans five years from the first hopeful protests against President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011 as the Arab Spring took hold in Syria through to the sacking of Aleppo by regime forces in 2016.
It is narrated by Al-Kateab in her native arabic. The film has already won best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.
The academy will whittle down the 15 longlisted documentary features into a shortlist that will be announced in January. The Oscars take place on 9 February.
Al-Kateab spoke with Press Gazette earlier this year.
For Sama can still be seen online at All 4.
The post Channel 4 News and Waad Al-Kateab make Oscars longlist for best documentary feature appeared first on Press Gazette.