Salam Neighbor is a documentary released in 2016 by the film production companies Living on One Dollar and 1001 MEDIA. The title means "hello" neighbor. The title has a dual meaning as the Arabic word "salam" also means "peace."

The film documents the experiences of American filmmakers Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple when they lived among 85,000 Syrians in Jordan''s Za''atari refugee camp, which lies seven miles from the Syrian border. The filmmakers, who were the first allowed by the UN to register and set-up a tent inside a refugee camp, spent a month in Za''atari to cover what the UN Refugee Agency calls the world''s most pressing humanitarian crisis.

Salam Neighbor is a component of a three-part project focused on the Syrian refugee crisis: the documentary, a virtual reality (VR) film and a social impact campaign.

The film had its world premiere in Washington, DC at the AFI DOCS film festival on June 20, 2015.

Film-making approach
In Salam Neighbor, the filmmakers sought to understand the human side of the Syrian refugee crisis by living among the refugees. This immersive film style, combined with a social impact campaign, reflects the strategy of Living on One, which was co-founded by Salam Neighbor''s directors/producers Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci, and echoes their previous documentary, Living on One Dollar. The "East meets West" approach to humanize the Arab world reflects the strategy of the film''s other producers Mohab Khattab and Salam Darwaza, the co-founders of 1001 MEDIA.

Story-lines
Salam Neighbor concentrates on five Syrian refugees: Ghoussoon, a nurse who built a home business to provide for her children, Um Ali, a grandmother struggling to overcome personal loss and cultural barriers, Raouf, a street smart 10-year-old boy who hides his trauma behind his smile, Ghassem, a 30-something relief worker who lost everything he built in his life, and Ismail, a 20-something father finding his way after his college education was interrupted by the Syrian crisis. The film tells five stories among the 65 million refugee stories around the globe.

In trying to depict the humanity of the crisis, Salam Neighbor seeks to reflect the reality of life in a refugee camp. The film provides its audience insights into the refugee crossing process, entry into Jordan, initial aid upon arrival (water, food, first aid and inoculations), arrival registration in the camp, setting up a tent and obtaining bedding, heaters and initial food rations. In telling the stories of their neighbors, the filmmakers also offered a look into how camp life affected the refugees, both good and bad. For example, Um Ali was shown to have created opportunity out of crisis by developing and selling her art and working for an NGO to support her husband for the first time.

Salam Neighbor further addresses the logistics of running the Za''atari refugee camp, including through interviews of the then camp manager, Kilian Kleinschmidt, who discussed the entrepreneurial energy of the refugees and said, "We were building a camp, they were building a city." That quote summarizes the strains between the goals and expertise of the NGOs in providing "first-aid" and the desires of the refugees to begin to recover and rebuild their lives.

Another issue covered in the film is the role of host countries and how refugees are affected by the constraints host countries face with a large influx of people escaping war.

Commentary by the filmmakers
Members of the Salam Neighbor film team have elaborated on their approach to, as well as other aspects of, Salam Neighbor in various television and radio interviews. On Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, the directors described the story of 10-year old Raouf and the trauma he faced. On The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC radio, the directors chatted about four major characters in the film, the filmmakers'' expectations entering the refugee camp, security issues in the camp, the urban refugee issue (refugees living outside of the camps), the resettlement question and how the crisis is changing gender and cultural norms for the Syrian refugees. On The Mimi Geerges Show, the four producers covered the same issues as the Lopate interview, as well as the film''s goals, the role of refugee camps, logistics in the camp, the filmmakers'' interactions with refugees in the camp, the entrepreneurship exhibited in the camp, host country issues, the role of more developed Arab nations in this crisis and the Living on One/1001 MEDIA partnership.