Sean McAllister

Documentary which tells an unusual love story of survival in the world's second richest economy. (bbc.co.uk)

Held up in a heavily fortified Baghdad hotel, Iraq's most famous pianist Samir Peter tries to survive the "peace" of post-war Iraq as he waits for his visa that will grant him a new life in America. (imdb)

Filmed over 5 years, A Syrian Love Story charts an incredible odyssey to political freedom. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other. (imdb)

An intimate portrait of Yemen as the revolution unfolds, told through the eyes of tour guide leader Kais, an intelligent commentator on the changing times in Yemen, offering poignant moments of reflection, loss, anger and hope on the unknown road to revolution. (imdb)

Ali is a Palestinian parolee -- convicted of planting a bomb during the Six Day War -- who leads radical anti-Zionist tours of former "terrorist sites" throughout the land. Dov is an expatriated American Hassidic zealot and talk-radio host, who provides his former Brooklyn neighbours with the news from Hebron, broadcast live via cell phone. (seanmcallister.com/films/settlers/)

With air strikes averted, McAllister decided to carry on filming, making a double portrait of his two Ministry of Information minders, Kifah and Alla. The likeable and decent Kifah, a former English teacher enjoying a rare spell of paid work, is a football mad Anglophile: 'I can't forget Bobby Moore,' he sighs. Alla, Head of Protocol, is a suave ladies' man and pop fan (very taken with Chumbawumba). (seanmcallister.com/films/the-minders/)