Kerry Shale

Held Hostage is the real and terrifying story of ordinary foreign workers who came face to face with Al Qaeda at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January 2013. The attack left over 37 foreign hostages dead, including people from the U.S., U.K., France, Japan, and Norway. As the horrific events unfolded over four days in the full glare of the world’s media, Algerian special forces and helicopter gunships attacked the site in an effort to end the crisis. Bringing together exclusive interviews with survivors and their families, expert analysis of the key events, and powerful dramatic reconstruction of the terrifying four-day siege, this documentary raises many unanswered questions: How did a convoy of terrorists manage to travel undetected across hundreds of miles of desert and gain control of one of Algeria’s most important and valuable gas facilities? And who was ultimately responsible for the safety of the workers?