American Doctor

When three American doctors – Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian – enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to make a difference. As the world watches a besieged and heavily bombed Gaza grapple with a humanitarian catastrophe, a collapsing healthcare system, and an unprecedented civilian death toll, American Doctor tells a deeply humanitarian story from which we must not look away.

The war in Gaza has strongly involved another country: the United States. As the attacks intensified in Gaza and medical expertise and capabilities were decimated, three American doctors felt a professional and moral obligation to act. We witness these three impressive individuals making the difficult but necessary triage decisions after an attack, caring for suffering children, and concerned for their own personal safety. Their stories reveal not only the human cost of war, but also the failure of the international community to protect civilians. Although they come from very different backgrounds and experiences, they are unified in their desire to ease suffering and raise their voices to demand action from their own government.  

From Gaza hospitals to the halls of American power, director Poh Si Teng unflinchingly depicts a brutal reality and also shows a path forward to engage with humanity and collective action. Variety magazine called American Doctor ‘a necessary watch because it dares its audience not to look away, forcing the question not only of whose story is told, but whose deaths matter and make headlines’.