“For Sama” has been collecting accolades across the globe since its world premiere this March at SXSW, where it took home the Audience Award for a Documentary Feature and SXSW Grand Jury Award for a Documentary Feature. Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ acclaimed documentary chronicling life in Aleppo through five years of the Syrian revolution also dominated the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), held Sunday in London.

In addition to scoring the night’s top honor, Best British Independent Film, “For Sama” was also named Best Documentary. Al-Kateab and Watts snagged the prize for Best Director.

Al-Kateab described “For Sama” as a message to her daughter in an interview with us. “It shows how I fell in love, got married, and gave birth to her as terrible violence raged around us. I wanted her to see the laughter and the happiness of our lives as well as the sadness and loss. Through our personal story, the audience can see the truth of what thousands of Syrians experienced,” she emphasized. “Ultimately the film is my effort to explain to Sama the incredibly difficult choice that her father Hamza and I had to face between protecting her and staying true to our struggle for freedom. So many parents faced the same terrible choice. I felt it was important that Sama understood not only our very real fears for our beloved city, but also our hope that one day she would have a better future because of our struggle.”

This year’s other winners included Renée Zellweger, who took home the Best Actress prize for her portrayal of Judy Garland in “Judy,” and Emma Jane Unsworth, who landed the Debut Screenwriter honor for penning “Animals,” a comedy about a dysfunctional friendship based on her novel of the same name.

Head over to Screen Daily to check out all of the winners.