Documentary One in a Million follows Syrian refugee Isra over ten years

The BBC documentary One in a Million traces the Syrian refugee crisis through one family over ten years. It follows Isra, first seen aged 11 as she and her family leave Aleppo in 2015 for Germany.

The filmmakers, Syrian-born Itab Azzam and her British husband and co-director Jack MacInnes, told BBC News they found Isra in Izmir, Turkey, in 2015. The city was a centre where refugees and smugglers met. They had travelled the route with other families but had not found the right story until Isra appeared in a busy square selling cigarettes. She smiled and started talking to them.

The filmmakers said Isra was confident and defiant, but also an 11-year-old and vulnerable. Her father was present throughout and saw the film as a way to tell his story. The filmmakers travelled with Isra, her father and 15 relatives, and said the family had ten years to reflect on whether to take part.

The makers did not film the dinghy crossing from Turkey to Greece. They said it was not allowed and would have been unethical, and that involving journalists could have endangered the family because smugglers were involved. The family filmed that leg themselves, and the crew continued the journey afterwards.

In Germany, Isra asked whether the filmmakers would leave. They decided to keep filming. The crew visited when they could, and Isra also recorded material on a phone and a small camcorder they gave her. Sometimes a message from her prompted an immediate trip, including after she told them her parents had broken up.

Funding began with the BBC series Exodus: Our Journey to Europe. The filmmakers then spent three years without money and used their own credit cards, before Mandy Chang from Storyville saw a trailer and took the film.

Consent became more complex when Isra's parents split up and she reached her teenage years. The filmmakers said they went through an ongoing consent process with Isra and both parents, and used the long production period to wait out doubts until the family were happy to continue.