'As a refugee, I don't know how I'd have survived without their help'

This year, The Observer's Christmas appeal is raising funds for the charity Counterpoints Arts, which supports and produces creative work by and about migrants such as film-maker Hasan Kattan, writes Vanessa Thorpe

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(Suki Dhanda for The Observer/Fadi Al-Halabi/Netflix)

The Syrian filmmaker Hasan Kattan knows that taking a decision to leave your homeland to see the world is a kind of luxury. Like the many others who have, instead, been forced out, he understands that making a choice would have been very different. A strong sense of exile means he longs for the sights and smells of Aleppo - for the everyday life he once knew.

"Behind the words 'displacement' and 'refugee', there's always a huge story. If people ask me why I decided to come to Britain, I'll tell them there was no 'decision'. I am still stuck in that moment," says Kattan, who worked on the Oscar-nominated short documentary Last Men in Aleppo (2017).

"Maybe because I’m a filmmaker, it is all constantly rolling through my brain, even with everything else happening around me now in Britain. We had all accepted living and dying under siege in Aleppo, until we were forced out."

Kattan, 33, began his career as a citizen journalist, filming in the ancient streets of the city he loves. He later became a cinematographer on The White Helmets, which won the best short documentary Academy Award in 2017 for its depiction of the rescue efforts of the Syrian civil defence force. He now lives in Slough, Berkshire, with his wife, Rama, also from Aleppo, and their two children, Kamelia, six, and his eight-year-old son, Thaer, which means “rebel” in Arabic.