We noticed how those young women were so vilified': Nadia Fall on her debut film, Brides

"I was doing a play with the writer Suhayla El-Bushra at the National [Theatre], and we were approached about making a film. At the time, the media was full of stories of young people that made that fateful journey to Syria, including Shamima Begum [the London teenager who travelled in secret to Syria to become an IS bride in 2015]. We noticed how those young women were so vilified. They were portrayed as monsters, and nobody was really seeing the experience from their point of view. We felt that that that was really needed."

"The film, which premiered at Sundance and is released in cinemas this month, resists easy condemnation of its two protagonists (played by Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar). Instead, it traces their perilous journey through Turkey towards the Syrian border, during which they lose their passport and money, stay in a bus station clerk's family home, survive a police chase, and hitchhike their way out of the city."

Brides follows two British teenage girls who run away to join Islamic State in Syria after being lured by social media promises of freedom. The film traces their perilous journey through Turkey toward the Syrian border, depicting lost passports and money, temporary shelter in a bus station clerk's home, a police chase, and hitchhiking out of the city. Nadia Fall shaped the story using real-life acts, shot at the actual bus station where Shamima Begum and friends waited, and incorporated authentic social media details. The film resists easy condemnation and draws on Fall's work with young people and mental health settings.

Read at www.theguardian.com