Oscar-nominated Waad Al-Kateab’s, DEATH WITHOUT MERCY is wrenching 
feature documentary that focuses on the early hours of February 6, 2023, when a devastating earthquake measuring 7.8 struck a vast region of Turkey and Syria that resulted in over 55,000 deaths and illustrated the destructive instability that 
had torn this region apart. DEATH WITHOUT MERCY, directed by Waad Al-Kateab, is a powerful record of the disaster from the personal perspective of two Syrian families searching for their loved ones over 10 days in the earthquake’s aftermath. The shock of this disaster soon gives way to a damning record of human failure highlighting official incompetence and the lack of humanitarian aid impeding the search 
for these survivors. Through intimate first-hand survivor footage from under the rubble interwoven with television news reports, social media interaction, and closed circuit tv and drone footage, the film is at once a moving testament to human dignity and a heartfelt 
tribute to the lives that have been lost in this catastrophic event. Director Waad Al-Kateab (For Sama) joins to talk about shattering experience of watching the real time footage of buildings, bridges collapsing and knowing that as horrific as that was, knowing that the regional and international leadership essentially turned their collective back on the unspeakable misery that has been visited upon these innocent people. And when she knew she had to make DEATH WITHOUT MERCY.
For more go to: thefilmcollaborative.org/deathwithoutmercy
About the filmmaker – In 2011, when protests against the Assad regime swept the country, Waad taught herself how to film and became a citizen journalist, determined to document the horrors around her. During that time, Waad began reporting for Channel 4 News in the UK. This series of reports – titled Inside Aleppo – on Channel 4 News became the most watched pieces on the UK news program and received almost half a billion views online and won 24 awards – including the 2016 International Emmy for breaking news coverage. Waad documented her whole life over 5 years in Aleppo, as she fell in love with a doctor, Hamza; gave birth to their first daughter Sama (Sky); up until their forced displacement out of Syria and the birth of their second child, Taima. This footage became the basis of the feature documentary released in 2019, For Sama. Directed together with Edward Watts, For Sama won the Prix L’Œil d’or for best documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, receiving a six-minute standing ovation. At the 73rd British Academy Film Awards in 2020, For Sama became the most nominated documentary in the history of the BAFTAs with four nominations, ultimately winning for Best Documentary. The same year, For Sama received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Academy Awards. Waad has received numerous personal recognitions for her work as an activist and filmmaker, including the IDA Courage Under Fire Award, a Special Recognition for Courage in Filmmaking at DOC NYC Festival, and a place in the 2020 Time100 List of Most Influential People. She now works as a filmmaker on various projects, including a documentary on the Olympic Refugee Team, and dedicates time to her advocacy campaign, Action For Sama, which was set up to turn the worldwide reaction to For Sama into positive action for Syrians. The campaign, launched in 2019, focuses on utilizing For Sama as a unique educational tool to build more empathetic responses to the situation in Syria and end impunity for the war crimes committed there. Action For Sama’s ultimate aim is to see the perpetrators of war crimes in Syria be held to account – and thereby end the ongoing targeting of civilians and hospitals in Syria. Waad’s latest film, Death Without Mercy is a powerful, personal and moving piece about the stories of two families over the course of 10 days following the devastating Syria-Turkey earthquake in Feb 2023.
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