Photo by Emad El Byed

“Did you want to see the photographs?”

“I feel like I’m gonna end up blurring it or not using it.”

“Why? Who are you offending?”

Thus begins American Doctor (2026), in a frank exchange between an orthopedic surgeon and first time director Poh Si Teng about the ethics of the journalistic choice in front of her. Assured that she has the permission of the survivors to show the images of the victims, Teng does end up including—judiciously—the uncensored photographs exhibiting the savage consequences of Israel’s war in Gaza. With this, American Doctor is best understood as an anti-censorship film. It’s legacy, however, will be as a historical record of the day-to-day work in a Gaza hospital under fire.

A Jewish doctor, a Palestinian Arab doctor, and a Parsi Zorastrian doctor, each American, collaborate in hospital hallways and operating rooms with local medical students and staff. The personalities and backgrounds of the three doctors are strikingly dissimilar. They didn’t know each other before Gaza. Each has their own personal reasons for coming from the US. But each came out of a deep sense of responsibility.

Between Palestine and America, we follow these men as they go about their business, practicing medicine........

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