Run Time: 99:54

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SHORT SYNOPSIS

“When you’re fighting people … who really don’t care whether they live or die …

when you reduce someone like that to tears, you have created

a generational problem and we’re seeing that now in Syria.”

— Sebastian Junger, Hell on Earth

In National Geographic Documentary Films’ Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria

and the Rise of ISIS, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and best-selling

author Sebastian Junger and his Emmy-winning filmmaking partner, Nick

Quested, chronicle Syria’s descent into the unbridled chaos that allowed the rise of the

Islamic State, better known as ISIS. Pulling from nearly 1,000 hours of stunningly

visceral footage — from that of a family living under ISIS control that finally fled to

Turkey, to Kurdish fighters in Sinjar and Shia militias in Iraq and even to al-Qaida-

affiliated fighters in and around Aleppo and Raqqa — Junger and Quested cover the

ISIS catastrophe from multiple angles and feature interviews with top experts from

around the world. Consequently, the filmmakers, who previously collaborated on a trio of

films about the war in Afghanistan (“Restrepo,” “The Last Patrol” and “Which Way is the

Front Line From Here”), capture the Syrian war’s harrowing carnage, political and social

consequences, and, most important, its human toll, while painting an alarming picture of

the west’s role in the creation of ISIS. Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of

ISIS will be released theatrically in NY and LA, and air globally on National Geographic

in 171 countries and 45 languages this spring.

LONG SYNOPSIS

In National Geographic Documentary Films’ Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria

and the Rise of ISIS, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and best-selling author

Sebastian Junger and his Emmy-winning filmmaking partner, Nick Quested, chronicle

Syria’s descent into the unbridled chaos that allowed the rise of the Islamic State, better

known as ISIS, in Iraq and Syria. The film follows as the peaceful anti-government

protests of the Arab Spring turn into an armed uprising against the despotic regime of

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, opening a door to a dangerous new enemy that

preys on the disenfranchisement felt by Sunni Muslims in the Middle East and around

the world.

In 2011, the Syrian people’s hopeful demonstrations for democratic reform were

met with brutal repression by the Assad government, plunging the country into unending

violence and despair. The resulting civil war has taken the lives of an estimated 400,000

people and uprooted millions more, creating a global refugee crisis. Conflict between the

government, moderate rebel groups and ISIS jihadis have all but destroyed ordinary

daily life in much of the country, and left the nation’s largest metropolis, the ancient city

of Aleppo, in ruins.

Pulling from nearly 1,000 hours of stunningly visceral footage, the filmmakers

provide a comprehensive picture of the conflict. Junger and Quested, who previously

collaborated on a trio of films about the war in Afghanistan (Restrepo, “The Last Patrol”

and “Korengal”), capture the Syrian war’s harrowing carnage, political and social

consequences, and, most important, its human toll, while painting an alarming picture of

the west’s role in the creation of ISIS. Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of

ISIS will be released theatrically in NY and LA, and air globally on National Geographic

in 171 countries and 45 languages this spring.

Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS is produced by Goldcrest

Films in association with National Geographic Documentary Films. Executive producers

for Goldcrest Films are Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested. For National Geographic,

the executive producer is Matt Renner and Tim Pastore is president of original

programming and production.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

A young family huddles in a darkened room for hours as air strikes rock the

building. A city street explodes with gunfire and mangled bodies litter the sidewalks. The

wounded call for help as bullets continue to rain down on them. Scores of children lie

dead after banned chemical weapons are deployed against them and their families. Five

years of unthinkable violence has scarred the Syrian landscape and driven millions into

exile as civil war rages on.

In the riveting new documentary Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise

of ISIS from National Geographic Documentary Films, filmmakers Sebastian Junger and

Nick Quested meticulously identify the forces that led to the deadly conflict in Syria and

facilitated the rise of the radical Islamists who are now organizing and inspiring terrorist

operations around the world. Through exclusive interviews with activists, journalists,

diplomats, human rights workers, politicians and ordinary citizens, as well as historical

file footage, Junger and Quested have assembled a unique portrait of life in the war-torn

country.

From the optimistic rallies and sit-ins of the Arab Spring to the obliteration of one

of the world’s most ancient cities, the filmmakers recount the events that have placed the

future of the Syrian people in peril. “Sebastian Junger is one of the preeminent conflict

journalists of our time,” says Quested. “He’s covered major news stories in war-torn

countries all over the world, he’s reported from Afghanistan, was trapped in Monrovia

during the Liberian civil war and was even briefly held by ‘oil rebels’ in the Niger Delta. If

anyone is going to get to the bottom of what motivates people to do what they’ve done in

this war; it is going to be him.”

For National Geographic, it was Junger’s signature brand that first attracted them

to the project. “Sebastian acquires extraordinary access to all sides of a conflict, and

through immersive, raw storytelling, connects a broad audience to the

characters," explains Tim Pastore, president of original programming and production for

National Geographic. “We had first worked with Sebastian on his 2010 film Restrepo,

which gave viewers the feeling they had just been through a 90-minute deployment. We

wanted to apply a similar approach to the war in Syria, letting the footage itself speak to

the complexities of the crisis, from all angles.”

Junger and Quested have painstakingly strived to build a convincing argument

that the threat posed to the world today by ISIS is the inadvertent product of decades of

intervention — and at times, lack of intervention — in the Middle East by western

governments. “We thought we could tackle that from an original place and try to portray

the war from all sides,” says Junger.

The fortunes of ISIS began to rise after the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops from

Iraq. The ruling Sunni minority had been displaced by the American invasion and

replaced by a rival Shiite Shia government. ISIS, founded by Sunni Muslim

fundamentalists, has promised a return to Sunni dominance, with the ultimate goal of

restoring Sharia law and the Sunni caliphate — a political and religious state that once

reigned as the world’s largest empire. Since announcing the establishment of the

caliphate in Syria in 2014, ISIS has engaged both government and moderate rebel

forces and terrorized the populace with tactics that include public executions, mass

killings and suicide bombers.

While ISIS is often portrayed in the media as an organization led by bloodthirsty

madmen, the opposite is actually true, according to Junger. “These guys may be

horrifying, but they’re not insane,” he explains. “The leaders of ISIS are rational. Their

actions make strategic sense in terms of controlling the population. Their outrageous use

of public violence is not a product of a fevered mind. It’s a product of a very logical mind

that’s doing this for a reason. Lots of people and lots of organizations act in deliberately

provocative ways that seem like they would backfire and they don’t.”

CAMERAS ON THE GROUND

A camera can be as powerful a gun — in some ways more powerful. — Nick Quested

Making the kind of intimate portrait of life inside Syria that Junger and Quested

envisioned presented unique challenges even for these seasoned documentarians. It

required upward of a year of international reporting, with an army of improvised film

crews risking their lives to gather footage in one of the most volatile countries in the

world.

“Filming inside Syria is incredibly dangerous,” says Junger. “Many have died

trying to do it. And filming inside ISIS is absolutely impossible — they cut the heads off

of journalists.”

Because getting independent journalists from the west into Syria proved

impossible, the filmmakers had to find different ways to obtain the video they needed. In

some cases, journalists within the country were able to discreetly supply them with

exclusive footage. “We had a contact who was working in a very informal press office

within Syria,” says Junger. “He was working with other western journalists to get footage

out of Syria and we made contact with him.”

Quested and Junger were able to get additional video with the help of an

international network of journalists and activists. “We had some great people helping us,”

says Quested. “Most of our contacts were in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iraq

and Jordan because it was too difficult for me to go to Syria. I would manage each of our

fixers from outside the country as they tried to get the stories that Sebastian and I

thought were appropriate to weave into our narrative.”

To accomplish that, Quested made at least one 12-day trip each month during

the yearlong production process, collecting videos from sources in the U.K., France,

Germany, Italy, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Morocco, Libya and Belgium.

“The work is emotionally draining, especially in the field,” says Quested. “You

couldn’t really build a level of trust without being there. You have to go there, you have

to meet the people and explain to them what you’re trying to do. You have to

acknowledge that the struggle of the Syrian people is not always fairly portrayed in the

western media.”

The pair found other sources of extraordinary footage as well. “You could film

safely with the Kurds,” says Junger. “You could go to northern Iraq. We got the footage

from inside ISIS by plundering the huge amount of material that they themselves put

online.”

While Quested served as the point person in the field and filmed most of the

interviews himself, Junger mostly stayed stateside and provided logistical and creative

input. He also advised his partner on journalistic ethics and connected him with some of

the most prominent voices in the film, including Iraqi photojournalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

and Sarah Chayes, a former special adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Junger was also intensely involved in editing, building the narrative arc and identifying

the primary themes of the film.

“A huge amount of credit goes to Nick for the sheer number and variety of leads

he pursued,” Junger says. “He cast a very wide net. His background is not in journalism,

but I don’t know many journalists who could have worked with that scope of possibilities

and juggled them all. I certainly couldn’t have done it.”

Perhaps the most remarkable and moving scenes in Hell on Earth: The Fall of

Syria and the Rise of ISIS come from a family whose members have fled Aleppo and

find themselves trapped in ISIS territory. As they document their daily lives with a

handheld video camera, they serve as a very personal reminder of the desperation of

ordinary people in Syria. The family agreed to record their perilous journey from Syria to

Turkey, as well as their attempt to secure a space onboard a dangerously overcrowded

boat headed for Greece.

The filmmakers gave the family detailed instructions on how to best document

their journey using the equipment available to them. “They were asked to concentrate on

the kids, shoot outside wherever possible, include geographical markers,” says Quested.

“Tell us how you feel constantly. What is frustrating you? What’s happening in your day-

to-day life? I was so impressed by their filmmaking acumen. They basically got it from

the beginning and provided us with the most poignant part of our film.”

After gathering over 1,000 hours of video, the filmmakers tackled the daunting

task of crafting the footage into an authentic narrative of the Syrian conflict. “There’s so

much false information, so much propaganda,” says Quested. “To distill it down to what

we think is an accurate version of events was a huge challenge.”

A BRUTAL REALITY

Overwhelming force is never a good thing to fight.

— Nick Quested

Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS lives up to its title with its

unflinching depiction of the inhumanity being inflicted on the people of Syria, both by

ISIS and by their own government. “This is a difficult film to watch,” admits Quested. “I

want to challenge people to sit through and watch. They have a keyhole into the

suffering of millions of people and the reasoning behind it. If you can sit for an hour and

half, you will be much better informed about the world.”

The producer says it was necessary to include explicitly violent footage that may

repulse many in the audience. “We show it because that is what it is,” says Quested.

“You can’t sugarcoat the suffering of the Syrian people. We didn’t go out to shock

people. We went to show people how it really is. It’s entirely documentary, exactly as it is

happening. This is the reality.”

That said, some of the footage the filmmakers gathered was so graphic that they

chose to cut it away at the last moment. “You have to be very careful when you show

this kind of violence,” says Junger. “You want to show it so people have to reckon with it,

but you don’t want to turn it into a voyeuristic enterprise. We were very, very sensitive to

that line.”

But Junger believes that as citizens of a nation that wages war, we have an

ethical duty to be informed about the consequences of America’s military incursions. “I’m

not at all ‘antiwar.’ I think there are a lot of wars that are necessary, but we wage some

unnecessary wars. I think the public that votes it in and pays for it should see what it

looks like. We have a moral responsibility to actually stare it in the face and then ask

ourselves, do we really want to be doing this?”

Junger believes that the answer will often be yes. “I wasn’t at all against the war

in Afghanistan. There was a real strategic and moral reason for it. A lot of good things

came out of it for the Afghans themselves. I did not feel that way about Iraq. I was not

prepared for the real carnage that happened in Iraq because of our invasion. It wasn’t

until I saw a series of photos taken in Baghdad by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, the Iraqi

photographer who’s a prominent part of this film, that I began to understand. We

introduced a huge amount of death and violence into that society and destabilized it.

That is not the only reason that ISIS rose up, but it was part of the recipe that produced

ISIS.”

THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

“There are 12 million homeless Syrians now, five million of them are outside the country and an increasing number are making the desperate journey across the sea.”

— Robin Yassin Kassab, Author of “Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution”

Through a ruthless military campaign against its own citizens, the Russian- and

Iranian-backed Syrian government has retaken much of the territory held by rebel

groups in recent months. But Junger believes that ISIS or some other equally malignant

force will rise again if the world doesn’t learn from its missteps. “Had we not invaded

Iraq, had we not blindly backed the Shia government in Baghdad, the Sunnis would not

have felt pushed up against a wall and become receptive to ISIS,” he says. “If we had

intervened earlier in the Syrian civil war in decisive and moral ways, we could have

headed off the whole damn thing. I understand Obama’s decision not to. We’d just been

through a decade-plus of two wars and the public didn’t really have the stomach for it,

but there still were things we could have been more assertive about. We could have

instituted a no-fly zone like John McCain wanted to do and kept the war from escalating.”

The consequences of the west’s lack of action in Syria will be felt for another

generation, he believes. “The most likely outcome right now is that Assad achieves a

level of invulnerability. We’re fighting ISIS for him — and we need to. He’s going to

regain control of the populated parts of the country and I think a certain amount of Syria

is going to be a sort of no man’s land and a mix of jihadi groups. Eventually it may

achieve a kind of stasis like Somalia has.”

In the meantime, the Syrian war has created a massive refugee crisis. Junger

believes forced migration, whether caused by conflict, economy or climate, will be the

major issue of the next decade or more, and he is concerned about the backlash that

has already begun. “Millions of people are all going to Europe. Most of them are good

people. They’re desperate. They’re seeking a better life for their children. It’s all totally

understandable in human terms. You and I would do no differently. But it’s changing

European society very rapidly.”

Considering the isolationist rhetoric that fueled Donald Trump’s presidential

campaign, Junger fears the new U.S. administration will do little to alleviate the

burgeoning refugee crisis. “Even if building a wall or creating a list were morally

defensible actions, and I’m not sure they are, I just don’t think they’ll work,” the filmmaker

says. “I hope that one of the things the film will do is get people to look at the issue of

forced migration in human terms. Then we can have a conversation without demonizing

or dehumanizing these people. The family we follow is such a courageous, beautiful,

incredible family. I’m really hoping they will be emblematic of an immigrant population

that deserves to be treated with dignity.”

Although Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS focuses

primarily on the Syrian civil war and the growth of ISIS, it poses broader questions about

the current state of humanity. “Making a film about a war deals with specific historical

facts,” says Junger. “But we are also implicitly asking viewers to think about their

country’s relationship to violence and what their role is in that. If the human race is to

survive — and we may not — we are going to have to figure out how to manage

violence, social injustice, extreme poverty and environmental degradation. As a

humanist, when I make work like this what I’m really trying to do is appeal to people’s

human dignity and their sense of compassion for other people. At the end of the day

you’re really appealing to those parts of the human psyche, the human soul, and hoping

to bring them out with your work.”

A PARTIAL TIMELINE OF EVENTS RELATED TO THE

SYRIAN CIVIL WAR AND THE RISE OF ISIS 2011-2016

2011 THE ARAB SPRING January Local protests begin, threatening to topple governments throughout the Middle East. Thousands of protesters gather in Tahrir Square, Cairo, to demand the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. The Tunisian government is overthrown. March Demonstrations begin in Syria calling for democratic reforms, greater civil liberties and freedom for political prisoners. The Syrian military opens fire on protesters in Daraa, killing four people. As unrest spreads, so does the crackdown by Assad’s forces. July Seven Syrian army officers in a refugee camp in Turkey form the Free Syrian Army. August U.S. President Barack Obama calls on Assad to resign and orders Syrian government assets frozen. 2012 SYRIAN CIVIL WAR BEGINS July The Red Cross officially declares the Syrian uprising a civil war. Over 200,000 Syrian refugees are estimated to have fled their homes. August Obama declares that the use of chemical weapons by Syria would cross a “red line,” compelling the U.S. and its allies to intervene militarily. 2013 THE DEVASTATION CONTINUES February Syrian rebels begin an offensive on Damascus, as the death toll of the Syrian civil war exceeds 70,000. March The number of U.N.-registered Syrian refugees tops 1 million, half of them children. August The Assad regime is accused of killing as many as 1,729 men, women and children in two rebel-held zones near Damascus using the deadly chemical agent Sarin. President Obama plans, then calls off, coalition air strikes against Syrian military targets.

September U.S. and Russia reach a deal that calls for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. The agreement does not cover chlorine gas, which Assad is alleged to have used in later attacks. 2014 THE RISE OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

February Al-Qaida cuts ties with ISIS after months of disputes, including disagreements over its extreme tactics. June ISIS establishes a new caliphate with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as leader. Assad wins presidential elections with 88.7 percent of the vote. July ISIS takes control of Syria’s largest oil field. August Obama authorizes U.S.-led air strikes against ISIS in Iraq. ISIS releases videos depicting the executions of western hostages, starting with James Foley, an American journalist, demanding an end to the air strikes. September In a three-day period, over 100,000 Syrian refugees cross the border into Turkey to escape fighting. November The caliphate claims expansion into Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt. 2015 AN EMBOLDENED ISIS SPREADS TERROR GLOBALLY May ISIS effectively controls half of Syria’s territory. September Russia begins direct military involvement in the Syrian civil war, targeting the rebels. December By the year’s end, more than a dozen ISIS-inspired terror attacks have taken place throughout the world. 2016 THE FIGHTING CONTINUES March-July Major ISIS-related terror attacks occur in Brussels, Orlando and Nice.

December Syrian government troops retake half of the rebel-held section of Aleppo.

Film Subjects and Interviewees Hassan Hassan Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy Anthony Loyd Journalist, Times of London Christoph Reuter Journalist, Der Spiegel Gen. David Petraeus Major General, 101st Airborne, 2002-2004 Dr. Raphael Pitti Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations Masrour Barzani Chancellor, Kurdistan Region Security Council Atheel al-Nujaifi Governor, Ninevah Province Iraq 2009-2015 Tareq al-Hashemi Vice President, Iraq 2006-2009 Nikolai Tsonev Defense Minister, Bulgaria 2008-2009 Bunyamin Aygun Journalist, Turkey Col. Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi Free Syrian Army Malik Hassan Archeologist, Syria Asli Aydintasbas Journalist, Turkey Adnan Mohammed Archeologist, National Museum of Damascus Christine Maurin Son fled France for Jihad Salim Idris Chief of Staff, Free Syrian Army Dr. Mohd Abuasi Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Bulgaria

Bernard Haykel Professor Middle Eastern Studies, Princeton Matt Schrier Journalist Harry Martinez U.S Marine (Dates) Ken Pollack CIA, 1988-1995 Ken Timmerman Author, Dark Forces: The Truth About Benghazi Bijan Kian Naval Postgraduate School, 2011-2013 Karim Sadjadpour Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Sarah Chayes Special Adviser to Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2010-2011 Alberto Fernandez Middle East Media Research Institute Lukman Faily Iraqi Ambassador to US, 2013-Present Sen. John McCain Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee Col. Matthew Bogdanos USMC Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Ian Bremmer Eurasia Group Emely Issa Syrian Refugee Rosen Pleveniev President, Bulgaria Abu Rahyon Free Syrian Army Ahmed

Activist Identity Protected Bernard Squarcini Director, Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence France, 2008-2012 Osama Hadbey Communications Activist, Free Syrian Army Col. Riad Al-Assad Free Syrian Army Can Dundar Journalist, Turkey Flynt Leverett CIA, 1992-2003 Dennis Ross Senior Director, National Security Council 2009-2011 Matt Levitt Stein Program on Counterterrorism Charles Lister Brookings Doha Center Seamus Hughes Center for Cyber & Homeland Security Amos Hochstein Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs Gen. Michael T. Flynn Dir. Defense Intelligence Agency, 2012-2014 Will McCants Author, The ISIS Apocalypse Robert Ford US Ambassador to Syria, 2011-2014 Robin Yassin Kassab Author, Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution ISIS Defector Anna Erelle Author, In the Skin of a Jihadist Akin Atalay

Lawyer, Can Dundar Peter Bouckaert Emergencies Director, Human Rights Watch Salih Muslim Co-Chairman, Democratic Union Party, Syria 2010-Present Robert Baer CIA, 1976-1997 Dr. Amr Al-Azm Middle East Institute Ali Soufan FBI, 1997-2005 Alain Chouet Chief Director, French Security Intelligence Service 2000-2001 Alastair Crooke Director, Conflicts Forum Linda Ibrahim Syrian Refugee Daniel Koehler German Institute on Radicalization and De-radicalization Studies George Kiourktsoglou Maritime Security Expert, University of Greenwich Laurent Fabius Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, France 2012-2016 Malek Boutih National Secretary, France 2003-Present Rami Abdel Rahmane Director, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Romain Caillet Institute of the Near East, France 2008-2014 Mahma Xelil Mayor, Sinjar Iraq Emely & Linda Issa Syrian Refugee

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad Journalist & Photographer, Iraq Ismael Abdallah Syrian Civil Defense Force Rob Malley Senior Advisor to the President for Countering ISIL Mahmoud al-Basha Journalist, Syria Basam Barabandi Advisor to the Syrian American Council Stavros Mirogiannis Director, Karatepe Refugee Camp Linda and Emely Issa Syrian Refugees Qubad Talibani Deputy Prime Minister, Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq Peter Bergen National Security Analyst, CNN Abu Majeed Abu Sayyaf Senior Cleric, Jordanian Salafist Movement Cemil Bayik Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Debaga Refugee Camp Manager

Dr. Sheikh Ujehbud (sp?) Sheikh Nazhan Michael McGarrity FBI, Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell Teun Voeten Journalist, War Correspondent Alex Jordanov Journalist, France Zaidoun al-Zoabi Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations David Thomson Journalist, France 24 Deradicalisation Center Mom and Son Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Linda Ibrahim Syrian Refugee Living in Bulgaria Abu Jafar Forensic Pathologist Marwan Syrian Radwan Syrian Father

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

SEBASTIAN JUNGER (director, producer) is the New York Times No. 1 best-

selling author of “The Perfect Storm,” “Fire,” “A Death in Belmont,” “War” and “Tribe.” As

an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a special

correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories around

the world and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award.

Junger is also a documentary filmmaker whose debut film, Restrepo, a feature-length

documentary co-directed with Tim Hetherington, was nominated for an Academy Award

and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

Restrepo, which chronicled the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in

Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, is widely considered to have broken new ground in war

reporting. Junger has since produced and directed three additional documentaries about

war and its aftermath. “Which Way Is the Front Line From Here?,” which premiered on

HBO, chronicles the life and career of Junger’s friend and colleague, photojournalist Tim

Hetherington, who was killed while covering the civil war in Libya in 2011.

“Korengal” returns to the subject of combat and tries to answer the eternal question of

why young men miss war. “The Last Patrol,” which also premiered on HBO, examines

the complexities of returning from war, by following Junger and three friends — all of

whom had experienced combat, either as soldiers or reporters — as they travel up the

East Coast railroad lines on foot as “high-speed vagrants.”

Junger has written for such magazines as Harper’s, The New York Times

Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Outside and Men’s Journal. His reporting on

Afghanistan in 2000, profiling Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was

assassinated just days before 9/11, became the subject of the National Geographic

documentary Into the Forbidden Zone and introduced America to the Afghan

resistance fighting the Taliban.

Junger lives in New York City and Cape Cod.

NICK QUESTED (director, producer) is executive director and owner of

Goldcrest Films, where he has built one of the world’s premiere documentary brands

and won two Emmys for his work. Quested has served as a producer on over 35 films,

including Sebastian Junger’s “The Last Patrol,” “Korengal,” the PGA- and two-time

Emmy-nominated “Which Way Is the Front Line From Here?,” “The Life and Time of Tim

Hetherington” and the Oscar®-nominated Restrepo.

Quested is also an award-winning music video director who has worked with

such artists as Dr. Dre, Nas, Puffy, Sting, Master P, Cash Money and Trick Daddy.

His credits include “Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives,” “Rubble

Kings,” “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer,” “Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers,”

“Stolen Seas,” “The List,” “Tell Spring Not to Come This Year” and “Doin’ It in the Park:

Pick-Up Basketball, NYC.”

Production credits:

A JUNGER QUESTED FILM IN ASSOCIATION WITH DIAMOND DOCS

NARRATED BY SEBASTIAN JUNGER HELL ON EARTH THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS

DIRECTED BY SEBASTIAN JUNGER NICK QUESTED

Written By MARK MONROE Narration Written By SEBASTIAN JUNGER

Produced By NICK QUESTED SEBASTIAN JUNGER

Edited By AARON SOFFIN

Music By JOEL GOODMAN Co-Producers GRETCHEN MCGOWAN AHMED BARBARY

Supervising Editor GEETA GANDBHIR

Additional Editing AMINA MEGALLI

MARIAH REHMET MONA ELDAIEF

EMIR LEWIS

Associate Producers DJAKA SOUARE

JESSICA Q. CHEN ALEXANDER SPIESS

ALEX JORDANOV

Art Director & Lead Animator DANIEL FORREST HOFFMAN

Field Producers

ADNAN AL MOHAMED

JEREMIAH BAILEY-HOOVER WAJD DHNIE

AYSEGAL DURU AYAR FREEDOM

KATIE GILBERT BAKHTYAR HADDAD

ALEX JORDANOV DANIELA PETROVA

Field Correspondents

SALAR ABDOH

MAHMOUD AL BASHA FAROUK ATIG

MELIK KAYLAN

MAJED NEISI NICK QUESTED

CARSTEN STORMER

Camera

MOHAMMAD ABO GHALOUN JEREMIAH BAILEY HOOVER

TOM INSKEEP JAVIER MANZANO

BARA OMAR HASAN OSWALD

JONATHAN PRIEUR NICK QUESTED

MOHAMAD SHABAN MILLAD SHABIE BILL THOMAS

MOHAMAD ZIDAN

Syria Filming PRESS SERVICES NETWORK

MAHMOUD AL BASHA MARWAN & RADWAN MOHAMMED

Off Line & Studio Rental GOLDCREST POST NEW YORK

Public Relations CATHY SAYPOL

Graphics Photographer

MELISSA MAGRI

Graphics Designer GRETCHEN DIEHL

Travel

ALICE CHIU

Editing & Post-Production Assistant MOAZ ELFAROUK

Motion Graphics Designers

WHITNEY ALEXANDER MATTHEW STALKER

Translators MAI MABROUK ZAYED

ANNA FISHBONE HANY HAWASLY

BANOO MUHEALDEN DANIELA PETROVA

ESRA SAYDAM DJAKA SOUARE

ERGULEN TOPRAK MOAZ ELFAROUK

Interns COURTNEY CASATUTA

NOAH FRIEDMAN ALESSANDRO GIROLAMI

BRITTANY STEPHANIS KYLE WITKOWSKI

ANDREW WODZANOWSKI

Transcripts

ESRA SAYDAM SAND AND SNOW

Legal Services

CLAIRE WARNES

For Goldcrest Post Productions LTD. Managing Director BEN CHEAH

Colorist JOHN J. DOWDELL III Graded on the SAM Quantel RIO Finishing Artist JORDAN STEIN MICHELLE AMBRUZ

Technical Supervisor AHMED BARBARY Senior Finishing Artist MATT THOMPSON

Foley Artist RACHEL CHANCEY DI Producer CLAIRE ENTRUP

Supervising Sound Editor MARY ELLEN PORTO Re-Recording Mixer TONY VOLANTE

Dialogue Editor MIKE SUAREZ Sound Effects Editor TRISTAN BAYLIS

Audio Producer DANNY ROONEY

Additional Footage Provided By ABC NEWS ALEPPO MEDIA CENTER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BBC MOTION GALLERY / GETTY IMAGES CBS NEWS CNN

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GAITH ABDUL-AHAD KHALID AL-HARIRI HASSAN AMMAR FHI BELAIDI LOUAI BESHARA ABD DOUMANY SALAH HASHEM DANNY LAWSON FREDERIC NEEMA NASSER NURI GURINDER OSAN NICOLE TUNG GARY VARVEL ALAMY STOCK

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In Memoriam MAYA BARSHINI AMIN NAKROUR ATALLA ABBOUD IBRAHIM SAADI

Killed by Assad Regime August, 2013 ABO FADEL Killed by Russian Airstrike May 6, 2016

MOHAMAD OUKDA Killed by ISIS May 16, 2016 MAHMOUD AL WAHESH Killed by ISIS May 29, 2016