Kenneth Lauren Burns is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV and/or the National Endowment for the Humanities and distributed by PBS.
Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian-Dutch film director. He has received two Academy Award nominations: in 2006 for his film Paradise Now, and again in 2013 for his film Omar.
Hubertus Hoffmann is a German entrepreneur, geostrategist and philanthropist as Founder and President of the NGOs Mission Future and The Human Codes of Tolerance, and author.
The Battle of Aleppo was a major military confrontation in Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria, between the Syrian opposition against the Syrian government, supported by Hezbollah, Shia militias and Russia, and against the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG). The battle began on 19 July 2012 and was part of the ongoing Syrian Civil War. A stalemate that had been in place for four years finally ended in July 2016, when Syrian government troops closed the rebels' last supply line into Aleppo with the support of Russian airstrikes. In response, rebel forces launched unsuccessful counteroffensives in September and October that failed to break the siege; in November, government forces embarked on a decisive campaign that resulted in the recapture of all of Aleppo by December 2016. The Syrian government victory was widely seen as a turning point in Syria's civil war.
My Enemy, My Brother is a 2015 Canadian documentary film about two war veterans who met twenty-five years later after the Iran–Iraq War in 1980s. It is directed by Ann Shin and produced by Melanie Horkan, Hannah Donegan and Fathom Film Group. The documentary was well received by critics and earned wide spread critical acclaim. My Enemy, My Brother was shortlisted with ten other documentaries from 74 entries submitted to 88th Academy Awards in Documentary Short Subject category. The final five nominations were scheduled to be announced on January 14, 2016.
50 Feet from Syria is a 2015 short-documentary film about a Syrian-American orthopedic surgeon Hisham Bismar who travels to the Turkey-Syrian border situated Al-Amal Hospital during the Syrian civil war. Directed by Skye Fitzgerald, 50 Feet from Syria was shortlisted with ten other documentaries from 74 entries submitted to the 88th Academy Awards in the Documentary Short Subject category. The final five nominations were scheduled to be announced on January 14, 2016.
The White Helmets, officially known as Syria Civil Defence, is a volunteer organisation that operates in parts of opposition-controlled Syria and in Turkey. Formed in 2014 during the Syrian Civil War, the majority of the volunteers' activity in Syria consists of medical evacuation, urban search and rescue in response to bombing, evacuation of civilians from danger areas, and essential service delivery. As of April 2018, the organisation said it had saved about 114,000 lives, and that 204 of its members had lost their lives while performing their duties. They assert their impartiality in the Syrian conflict.
Den Tolmor is a Moldova-born American film producer, director, and writer, whose work includes feature films, television series, and documentaries. Tolmor is best known for producing Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, a 2015 documentary film about the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in the winter of 2013 and 2014, which earned him an Oscar Nomination for Best Documentary Feature and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category in 2016. Throughout his career, Tolmor has frequently collaborated with Oscar-nominated Israeli-American director Evgeny Afineevsky, also producing the 2017 documentary film Cries from Syria about the Syrian civil war. Narrated by Helen Mirren, the film was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival where it premiered in 2017 and was acquired by HBO. Tolmor produced Francesco, a 2020 documentary film about Pope Francis that tells the story of hope inside the darkness of our times. Righetto, Tolmor's most recent feature film, entered pre-production in Italy in 2020.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Afineevsky is an Israeli-American film director, producer and cinematographer. He has an Academy Award nomination and Emmy nominations for his documentary Winter on Fire. Afineevsky resides in the United States.
The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria is the Syrian branch of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an armed Uyghur Salafist jihadist group with a presence in the Syrian Civil War. While the TIP has been active in Syria, the organization's core leadership is based in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a presence in its home territory of China.
The White Helmets is a 2016 British short documentary film. The film follows the daily operations of a group of volunteer rescue workers of the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets. The film was directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara. It won the Best Documentary at the 89th Academy Awards.
Daphne Matziaraki is a Greek director, writer and producer, graduated from University of California, Berkeley. Her thesis-film 4.1 Miles received critical appraisal and recognition earning her a Gold Medal at 43rd Annual Student Academy Awards, The film went onto receive a nomination for Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 89th Academy Awards.
Marcel Mettelsiefen is a director, cameraman, photographer and producer. His films on Syrian Civil War such as Syria: Children on the Frontline (2014), Children on the Frontline: The Escape (2016) and Watani: My Homeland (2016) have earned him critical appraisal and recognition. Mettelsiefen has won two BAFTA and two Emmy awards and was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Documentary Short Subject for Watani: My Homeland at 89th Academy Awards with producer Stephen Ellis.
Stephen Ellis is a British documentary film editor and producer. Best known for his work as an editor Fire in the Night, Syria: Children on the Frontline, The Tower: A Tale of Two Cities, Ronaldo and for producing Watani: My Homeland that earned him Academy Award for Best Documentary nomination at 89th Academy Awards, with director Marcel Mettelsiefen.
Last Men in Aleppo is a 2017 documentary film about the Syrian Civil War. Written and directed by Feras Fayyad, produced by Kareem Abeed and Søren Steen Jespersen, it documents the life in Aleppo during the war and particularly sheds light on the search-and-rescue missions of the internationally recognized White Helmets, an organization consisting of ordinary citizens who are the first to rush towards military strikes and attacks in the hope of saving lives. The documentary highlights the lives of three White Helmets founders, Khaled Omar Harrah, Subhi Alhussen and Mahmoud as they grapple the dilemma to flee their country or stay and fight for it.
Feras Fayyad is a Syrian film director, producer, and writer. Fayyad best known for his 2017 documentary Last Men in Aleppo and his 2019 documentary The Cave, both films earned him critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations including two Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, making him the first Syrian director to be nominated for an Oscar. Fayyad also won an Emmy award for Best Current Affairs Documentary, was nominated for a creative Emmy for best writing and directing, and has received two George Foster Peabody awards and a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement from the Directors Guild of America for his movie The Cave.
Kareem Abeed is a Syrian film producer best known for his 2017 documentary Last Men in Aleppo for which he was co-nominated for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
For Sama is a 2019 documentary film produced and narrated by Waad Al-Kateab, and directed by Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts. The film focuses on Waad Al-Kateab's journey as a journalist and rebel in the Syrian uprising. Her husband is Hamza Al-Kateab, one of the few doctors left in Aleppo, and they raise their daughter Sama Al-Kateab during the Syrian Civil War.
The Cave is a 2019 Syrian-Danish documentary film directed by Feras Fayyad and written by Fayyad and Alisar Hasan. A companion piece to his earlier film Last Men in Aleppo, the film profiles Dr. Amani Ballour, a physician in Ghouta who is operating a makeshift hospital nicknamed "the Cave" during the Syrian Civil War. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 5, 2019.
Waad Al-Kateab is the pseudonym of a Syrian journalist, filmmaker, and activist. Her documentary, For Sama (2019), was nominated for four BAFTAs at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, winning for Best Documentary, and was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards. Her coverage of the Battle for Aleppo won an International Emmy Award for Current Affairs & News for Channel 4 News. The pseudonymous surname Al-Kateab is used to protect her family.
