PRODUCTION: Fandango
COUNTRY: Italy
YEAR: 2022
LENGTH: 90′
MADE BY: Benedetta Argentieri

Tooba Gondal is one of Britain's most notorious jihadists. At only 20 years old, she left London to join the Islamic State and gained worldwide popularity as “the ISIS wedding planner” after recruiting a dozen Western women to marry jihadist fighters.

Between 2014 and 2017, Tooba Gondal was also actively engaged in propaganda on social media. After disappearing for two years, in 2019 Tooba was filmed by freelance filmmaker and reporter Benedetta Argentieri in Raqqa, Syria, only to disappear again a few days later. Now the woman lives in Paris with a new identity.

In an exclusive interview, Argentieri investigates the truth behind Tooba's face and stories. When presenting herself, Tooba alludes to the stereotype of the passive woman, in love with the wrong man and not responsible for her actions. Her version of the story clearly plays with the sexist view of women in jihad, seen as accessories and not active participants.

Is she really the nice, intelligent, submissive girl we see on camera? Or is she a violent extremist?

The documentary offers an interesting reflection on the Islamic holy war as seen from the point of view of the women members of the caliphate, combatants and executioners, and attempts to unravel one of the most complex and dangerous issues of our time: the real power and fascination exerted by ISIS on the minds of young Westerners, especially women.