Meet Syrian Filmmaker Abd al-Kader Habak

In the third of our series featuring the artistic and literary talents of our former Syrian colleagues, we profile Abd al-Kader Habak.

On 15 April 2017, a car bomb detonated near a convoy of buses in the al-Rashideen neighbourhood of western Aleppo, Syria. The bombing killed at least 126 people including more than 80 children. Abd, who had spent the last six years as a citizen photojournalist, was covering the evacuation when the bomb went off. A photo of him rescuing a badly injured child went viral and came to epitomise the brutality of the conflict.

Having worked with several international channels such as the BBC and CNN as a cameraman and field producer and lived through the siege of Aleppo, in 2017 he managed to reach the UK. He worked for ARK providing mentoring and technical support for other aspiring journalists in Jordan and Iraq, leveraging his own experience and expertise to inspire the next generation of storytellers.

Abd is building a career as a documentary filmmaker. His deeply moving film Her Stories, which portrays the resilience and defiance of three Syrian women during the conflict, won Best Narrative Short Story at the Silk Road Film Awards in Cannes this year and was selected for the UK Film Review. It is powerful first hand testimony to both the brutality of the Syrian conflict but also the strength of Syrian women and the enduring power of hope.