Three American physicians — one Palestinian American, one Jewish American and one Zoroastrian American — traveled to Gaza to treat patients in overwhelmed hospitals. A new documentary follows what they saw there and what happened when they returned to the United States and took their accounts to members of Congress.
The Coral Gables Art Cinema opens “American Doctor” this week, with two special screenings Sunday featuring director Poh Si Teng and members of South Florida’s medical and interfaith communities.
Inside Gaza’s hospitals
The film centers on Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, three American doctors who volunteered at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis during the Gaza war that followed the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in the territory.
Ahmad is a Palestinian American emergency physician from Chicago. Perlmutter is a Jewish American orthopedic surgeon, and Sidhwa is a Zoroastrian American trauma surgeon. The documentary follows them through surgeries, hospital corridors and the difficult decisions of treating badly wounded patients with limited resources.
Their missions took place amid severe restrictions on access for international medical teams. The film also follows Ahmad’s particular difficulty returning to Gaza. He has said Israeli authorities repeatedly denied him entry after 2024 because of his Palestinian heritage.
Teng shoots much of “American Doctor” in vérité style, without relying on conventional sit-down interviews or expert commentary. The story follows the doctors from Gaza to the United States, where they appeared in the media and sought meetings with U.S. officials about what they had witnessed.
The Hollywood Reporter, reviewing the documentary at Sundance, called it “first and foremost a humanitarian story,” emphasizing the physicians’ work treating the wounded while also acknowledging the political context surrounding the film.
From journalist to first-time director
“American Doctor” marks Teng’s feature directorial debut after a career spanning journalism, documentary production and film-industry leadership.
Born in Malaysia, Teng worked as a journalist for The New York Times and later held positions as a documentary commissioner for Al Jazeera English, grants director at the International Documentary Association and creative executive at ABC/Disney. She produced the Oscar-nominated documentary short “St. Louis Superman” and was an executive producer of the Emmy-winning “Patrice: The Movie.”
Teng could not travel to Gaza herself. Foreign journalists have been barred from independently entering the territory since the war began, although the Israeli military has periodically taken reporters inside on controlled visits. The restriction remained in effect this year.
Instead, Teng coordinated a production team spanning eight countries, including filmmakers working inside Gaza. “No one single country could have pulled this together,” she said in an August interview about the production.
She has described the project as an attempt to create a permanent account of the physicians who continued traveling to Gaza despite the risks and obstacles.
“With more than 100 doctors who have gone to Gaza, I wanted to create a lasting record of those who stood their ground when it mattered most — when it was so hard,” Teng said.
“American Doctor” premiered Jan. 23 in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Watermelon Pictures subsequently acquired the film for North American distribution, and its limited theatrical release began Aug. 14. The film runs 93 minutes.
A screening built around conversation
“American Doctor” plays at the Coral Gables Art Cinema through Thursday, Sept. 17, with screenings throughout the week.
Sunday brings two special programs.
The 1:30 p.m. screening is followed by a panel featuring Teng; Rana Mahmoud, a registered nurse who served on two medical missions in Gaza; Dunia Ibrahim, a South Florida attorney who hosted a mother and daughter from Gaza while the girl received medical care and was fitted for a prosthetic leg; and Dr. Waleed Sayedhamad, a South Florida anesthesiologist who has participated in medical missions to Gaza.
Dr. Mohamed Ghumrawi, assistant director of Florida International University’s Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies, will moderate. A reception on the cinema plaza follows, made possible by the Mideast Action Group for Interfaith Collaboration. As of Thursday, the 1:30 p.m. program was sold out.
A separate 4 p.m. screening Sunday will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Teng. Tickets remained available for that screening as of Thursday.
Tickets for regular screenings are $8 for cinema members and $12.75 or less for nonmembers. The Coral Gables Art Cinema is at 260 Aragon Ave.
