Waad Al kateab Wears Beautiful Arabic Poetry Gown to The Oscars

Published February 10th, 2020 - 08:33 GMT

Al-Kataeb wasn't the only celebrity to use her gown as a political statement

Highlights

The documentary portrays an intimate journey into the female experience of war

By Alexandra Abumuhor

The horrors of civil war are explored in Waad Al-Kateab's Oscar-nominated documentary, For Sama.

Al-Kateab is a Syrian journalist and filmmaker who documented both Syria's violent siege and the birth of her daughter, Sama.

The documentary portrays an intimate journey into the female experience of war, the story of Waad al-Kateab's life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo.

Stunning and brilliant @waadalkateab wears the Syrian Revolution to the #Oscars. The Arabic poetry on her dress: “We dared to dream and we will never regret dignity.” @forsamafilm #hero pic.twitter.com/NvtPzLq1dD
— Lina Sergie Attar (@AmalHanano) February 10, 2020

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The #Oscars start in just a few minutes! We are sending luck and best wishes to our For Sama team, nominated tonight for Best Documentary Feature. . . . #oscars #ForSama #ForSamaFilm @actionforSama #frontlinePBS #PBS #Documentary

A post shared by FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) on Feb 9, 2020 at 4:56pm PST

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Director of the #Oscar-nominated @forsamafilm @waadalkateab will hit @theacademy red carpet tonight wearing a dress inscribed with a message: "We dared to dream, and we will not regret dignity." In our film, which is up for Best Documentary Feature, Waad documented five years of her life in Aleppo — capturing a rarely seen look at the Syrian conflict through the lens of a young mother. . You can watch Waad and @edwardwatts' "For Sama" at the link in our profile, and root for it tonight at the #Oscars! We're thrilled to share this honor with our partners at @channel4news @channel4 @itnproductions @pbs @pbsdistribution @wgbh, and good luck to all of tonight's nominees. . #oscars #oscars2020 #ForSama #ForSamaFilm @actionforSama #frontlinePBS #PBS #Documentary

A post shared by FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) on Feb 9, 2020 at 3:07pm PST

For Sama won best documentary at the BAFTA film awards. Waad's documentary was also nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature.

The 29-year old filmmaker was joined by her doctor husband Hamza al-Kateab and daughter Sama at the the 92nd Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California on February 09, 2020.

The mother of one wore a floor length pink gown with Arabic poetry that translates to "we dared to dream, and we will not regret dignity."

Al-Kataeb wasn't the only celebrity to use her gown as a political statement, as American actress Natalie Portman wore a black and gold Dior Haute Couture outfit with a special touch.

Embroidered in gold lettering on her cape were the last names of the female directors who were not nominated for their films: Scafaria, Wang, Gerwig, Diop, Heller, Matsoukas, Har'el and Sciamma.