In 2009, 18-year-old Al-Kateab moved to Aleppo to study economics at the University of Aleppo. In 2011, when the Syrian Civil War broke out, she began reporting on the war for Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom. She elected to stay and document her life over five years in Aleppo as she falls in love with Hamza – her friend-turned-husband, a doctor – and gives birth to their first daughter, Sama ("Sky") in 2015, which became the basis of "For Sama". For covering the Siege of Aleppo, she won an International Emmy for her reporting, the first Syrian to do so. "For Sama", directed with Edward Watts, won the "Prix L'Œil d'or" for best documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, receiving a six-minute standing ovation. At the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, "For Sama" became the most nominated documentary in the history of the British Academy Film Awards with four nominations, winning for Best Documentary. Al-Kateab was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. Two women from Syria made the list - the other was the plant virologist Safaa Kumani.