Fez — “American Doctor,” filmmaker Poh Si Teng’s unflinching new documentary scheduled to premier in competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, is earning attention for its raw portrayal of medical workers in one of the most contested zones on earth.
Rather than a conventional medical drama, “American Doctor” follows three real physicians — one Palestinian American, one Jewish American, and one Zoroastrian American — who are bound by their shared oath to save lives as they travel to the Gaza Strip to provide care amid a deepening humanitarian crisis.
A true portrait of medicine under fire
The film’s narrative unfolds in vérité fashion, placing viewers inside hospitals under siege and following the doctors as they navigate both emergency care and the stark politics of the conflict. Scenes shift from clinical urgency in working wards to tense interviews and media appearances as the physicians try to amplify what they witness.
Director Poh Si Teng, making her feature debut after a long career in journalism and documentary production, frames the story not as a political essay but as a human document.
In interviews conducted around Sundance, she described the ethical challenges of capturing this material: in one early moment, a doctor insists she view haunting photographs of civilian casualties, prompting a personal reckoning about what truth and dignity mean within the film.
Three doctors, one shared mission
Each of the physicians at the center of “American Doctor” brings a distinct voice. Their personal backgrounds and approaches to care — from understated leadership to more confrontational advocacy in external media — reflect how medicine can intersect unpredictably with politics and public perception.
The documentary traces their work from a besieged hospital in Gaza to scenes in the United States, where they seek support, visibility, and awareness for communities enduring relentless violence. The doctors’ perspectives — in and out of the clinic — form the emotional core of the film’s indictment of conflict and its toll on civilian life.
A timely, hard-hitting reflection
Critics have described “American Doctor” as “hard to watch and it should be,” emphasizing that its power lies in its commitment to showing events as they unfold rather than sanitizing them. Reviews note that the film places medical reality at the foreground, rejecting abstraction in favor of direct engagement with suffering, survival, and confrontation.
At roughly 92 minutes, the documentary avoids melodrama and instead immerses audiences in the everyday decisions doctors must make where resources are scarce and risks are high. It asks difficult questions about duty and witness, placing viewers alongside caregivers who are, by every standard, ordinary people doing extraordinary work.
In bringing these stories to Sundance and to broader audiences, “American Doctor” aims to remind viewers that humanitarian crises are lived in operating rooms and outpatient tents, where the consequences of policy and war are immediate and irreversible.
