Syrian director Waad Al-Kateab's latest documentary "Heartless Death" will begin streaming on Paramount+ on February 6.

This documentary from MTV Documentaries tells the story of two Syrian families in the ten days following a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2023 on the border between Türkiye and Syria. The earthquake killed 55,000 people. The film will be released on Paramount+ on the second anniversary of the fatal incident.

Al-Kateab, an activist and director of the 2020 Oscar-nominated documentary "For Sama," was not in Syria during the 2023 earthquake. After hearing about the tragedy in London, the director immediately began reaching out to people there, including her friend Fadi Al Halabi, the cinematographer on the Oscar-winning short film "The White Helmets," and Syrian refugees The humanitarian organization Violet is led by the organization’s founder, Fuad Sayed Issa.

"I told them please shoot, please shoot," Al-Khatib said. "I kept telling them to document as much as possible, but there were no films. For me, the first priority was to document this huge tragedy."

Shortly thereafter, Al-Kateab received a call from producer Sheila Nevins, then head of MTV's documentaries division. This gave rise to Heartless Death , which premiered at the Sheffield Documentary Festival last year, weaving intimate first-hand footage with TV news reports, social media, CCTV, drone footage, archival material and interviews with masterminds Together.

The documentary follows two Syrian families as they search for their missing relatives, while also exposing the corruption, government negligence and systemic failures that exacerbated the impact of the disaster.

“Sheila is a huge part of the film,” Alkhatib said. "The moment we got the call, I heard someone who was very passionate, very concerned, and very angry. She was just as angry as I was, and Syrians were disappointed with the world and this incredible disaster. So, to me "It was a very eye-opening moment because I knew Sheila was going to fight for me to tell this story in the best way possible."

Al-Khatib said she made the film "to pay tribute to the resilience and humanity of those affected by the devastating earthquake in Turkey-Syria. The film is a testament to their courage, grief and resilience in the face of unimaginable loss." An unwavering determination to hold on to hope. Through their stories, I hope to inspire awareness, responsibility and commitment to ensure that no community ever suffers such preventable devastation again.”

She added: "Watching the fires in Los Angeles really took the film to a very different level and brought us all together to understand how people are affected by situations like this. It's very sad. We ( We know a lot of people that we love in Los Angeles, but it just taught us that a lot of things should be better and should be done differently. So, I feel like (this movie) is more important now than ever."

In December, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was prematurely ousted by Islamist rebels in a bloodless coup that took control of the Syrian capital, Damascus. After 13 years of civil war that has killed more than 500,000 people and forced millions of Syrians to leave. their motherland.