One in a Million
Change unfolds swiftly and powerfully in this intimate, decade-spanning portrait of Syrian refugee Israa and her family as they navigate life across multiple countries.
Description
Change unfolds swiftly and powerfully in this intimate, decade-spanning portrait of Syrian refugee Israa and her family as they navigate life across multiple countries. In 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jacob MacInnes discover the vivacious 11-year-old selling cigarettes on the teeming sidewalks of Izmir, Turkey, where she introduces them to her favorite food vendors and reveals that the family is trying to make their way to Germany. Not only does this journey prove challenging—they board a dinghy filled with dozens of others for a nighttime crossing to Greece—but many other difficulties await them when they finally arrive in Germany. Israa grows into a rebellious teen, her father Tarek fumes about Europe’s permissiveness, while mom Nisreen finds her own quiet liberation. The filmmakers rivetingly juxtapose messy and loving family moments against luminously staged talking-head interviews that further delineate the family members’ conflicts as well as their differing memories of their homeland. —Rod Armstrong
Biographies
A native of Syria and now based in London, Itab Azzam is an award-winning filmmaker and theater producer. She earned a Primetime News & Documentary Emmy nomination for her role as a producer on the Frontline segment “Exodus: The Journey Continues.” She made her directing debut with We Are Not Princesses (2018). Her second feature, One in a Million, won the World Cinema directing prize and audience award at the Sundance Film Festival.
London native Jack MacInnes has two Grierson Awards nominations, a Best Documentary Series nod for Inside the Commons (2015) and one for Best Entertaining Documentary for his work as the edit producer on Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 (2022). A prolific television director, his work has appeared on PBS, Netflix, and the BBC.
