Mar 22, 2015

Curiosity and desire drove young Syrian Haya El Ali, 26, to befriend the Islamic State’s (IS) all female brigade in her hometown of Raqqa. She was driven by dissatisfaction with what had become the new daily reality in the city after its fall into the hands of IS. So she decided to say “no” in her own way.

She put on the niqab, hid a camera in her purse and roamed the streets of her hometown recording scenes that were beamed to the world and forced her into exile in France, where she now lives after receiving death threats.

Ali’s journey intersected that of Lyana Saleh, a Syrian reporter working for France 24, who, jointly with Claire Billet, produced a documentary about Ali titled “The Rebel from Raqqa.”

In the film, images that Ali took in Raqqa are mixed with scenes shot by Saleh and Billet of the rebel’s daily life in Paris since taking refuge there.

Ali now lives at the House of Journalists, which is sponsored by a foundation that helps members of the press who were oppressed in their countries. Among the emotional footage taken by Ali is that of a demonstration calling for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and IS’ departure. A young girl features in the film part because her father was summoned for investigation by IS a month earlier, and never returned home. The girl cries and repeats that she misses him dearly.