Benedetta Argentieri
Tooba Gondal is one of the most infamous British jihadists. When she was only 20 years old, she left London to join the Islamic State and gained popularity worldwide as the ISIS matchmaker after allegedly recruiting a dozen Western women to marry ISIS fighters. Between 2014 and 2017, she actively engaged in propaganda on social networks. As soon as Isis started losing on the ground, she disappeared from the internet. Director Benedetta Argentieri found her two years later in a camp in Syria. ISIS lost the war, and she was held captive by the Kurds. Ms. Gondal agreed to an exclusive interview. When she introduces herself, Tooba hints at the stereotypical passive woman who is in love with the wrong man and holds no responsibility for her actions. Her story version plays with the sexist view of women in the jihad, seen as accessories and not as active participants. Is she the friendly, intelligent, and submissive girl we see on camera? Or is she a violent extremist?
The inspiring story of three women risking their lives to incite political, activist, and armed uprisings in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.
Since 2013 more than 30,000 fighters from all over the world have joined the troops of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (Daesh) in Syria. Fighting against them as part of the YPO (Popular Protection Command) in Rojava—in the north of Syria and prevalently Kurdish—are some hundreds of Westerners. This is the story of three of them: a former American marine, an Italian anti capitalist activist, and a Swedish bodyguard.
Three women in Raqqa, NE Syria, are rebuilding their future after enduring incredible violence. First, the Baath regime wanted them in the house, then the violence of the Islamic State. Since October 2017 when the SDF recaptured the city, they had the opportunity to organize themselves and pick up new roles in society.
