Debuting at Sundance earlier this year, Poh Si Teng‘s “American Doctor” is one of the year’s most essential films. Filmed over the course of a year, the documentary follows three American physicians: Dr. Mark Perlmutter, a Jewish American orthopedic surgeon from North Carolina; Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian American emergency physician from Chicago; and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon from California of Pakistani Parsi (Zoroastrian) heritage.
During this time, the physicians volunteer their skills in Gaza at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, with Teng’s film following them on the ground during visits before and after the alleged 2025 ceasefire. The film also follows them back in the United States as they educate and advocate for a true end to horrors they have witnessed.
Although this is Teng’s directorial debut, she is no stranger to world documentary filmmaking. She produced the Oscar-nominated documentary short “St. Louis Superman” and was the executive producer of the Emmy-winning feature “Patrice: The Movie.” Born and raised in Malaysia, she attended Taylor’s College in Kuala Lumpur and studied journalism at San Francisco State University, where she wrote for the student paper the Golden Gate Xpress.
After spending some time working as a journalist in India, she worked at The New York Times as a video journalist before joining Al Jazeera English, where she oversaw their documentary series “Witness.”
“American Doctor” director Poh Si Teng. (Watermelon Pictures)As Director of Funds and the Enterprise Program at the International Documentary Association (IDA), she spearheaded a grant program for filmmakers with disabilities, supported by the Ford Foundation. She then worked as an Executive Editorial Producer for ABC News Studios under Disney. At the CPH:DOX festival this past March, she shared that, “A year into the genocide, I didn’t have any more words.” She subsequently quit her job and spent approximately $150,000 of her only money to kickstart the budget to begin production on “American Doctor.”
In her director’s statement, Teng shares sentiments that I deeply agree with. She writes, “As an American, I needed to speak out. We are deeply complicit in this war. This is not just Israel’s war on Gaza. It is America’s war, with billions of dollars of American weapons being used to kill children and the innocent…This film is our way of honoring those we have lost—and fighting for the living. It is about bearing witness, speaking truth to power, and refusing to look away.”
For this month’s Female Filmmakers in Focus column, RogerEbert.com spoke with Teng over Zoom the night after the film screened to a sold-out audience at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago (where Teng spoke with documentary participant Dr. Thaer Ahmad). We talk about why she left her career to tell this story, how she turned despair and rage into something positive, and why she still thinks documentaries can help change the world.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Towards the end of the film, Dr. Ahmad is trying to get into Palestine, but he can’t. He says he hopes his children won’t fail the way his generation has. You said in one of your Q&As that the seed money you put into the film was money you’d saved for your child, and you hope they’d understand someday. That feels like an interesting connection of sacrifice from one generation to the next. Had you thought of that connection when you were editing the film?
I don’t think so much of my own sacrifice because I don’t look at material things as something that I’m gonna covet because of my own upbringing. My mother is a staunch Buddhist. She always taught us children, all us kids growing up, that greed is the cause of all suffering; if you have something, you should be ready to let it go because nothing is permanent anyway. So when it comes to material things, I think it’s not that hard. Money comes, money can go, money can come back again. So that’s how I look at it.
My daughter and Dr. Ahmad’s eldest daughter are the same age. So, throughout the entire genocide as it was unfolding, and working on the material and seeing the affected children, it’s been hard. It hits hard. Every night, I definitely held my daughter a little closer. To the point that she would ask me, “Why are you hugging me so tightly?” and I’d say, “It’s because I love you.” I think it was my way of coping. As for our generation, I don’t know. I don’t know whether what we are doing is enough, but we just try.
You left your position working as a creative executive at ABC News to focus on making this film. I wondered if there was a moment when you realized you could spend your energy doing something you truly believed in, or if you had a revelation like that?
I think for me, I was just sad all the time immediately after the beginning of the genocide. Then watching these videos, especially of journalists being killed, that hit home. Especially one particular journalist who I’ve spoken about before: Samer Abu Daqqa. He was a cameraperson. My first job out of college, after the internships, was as a cameraperson. His death really hit hard. Then the silence among peers cut deep. So I thought to myself, I can’t continue. I really cannot. I didn’t want to be in such deep despair all the time. So I ended up watching stream after stream of videos and feeling helpless. I didn’t want to feel helpless.
That’s when I thought maybe I could use my work experience and contacts from the past 20-plus years, and maybe it could come in handy. It was all just trial and error. I wasn’t really sure. I was sure I was going to try, but I wasn’t sure what the final outcome would be. I knew I wanted to make a film.
It’s funny. Earlier, I was reading this text that my friend sent. She took a screenshot, and she sent it to me a few days ago. This exchange happened on September 16th of last year. I’ll read it to you. This was nine plus months into making the film. I said to them, “It’s been such a lonely journey when it comes to funding, only heartache, but things are changing.” They said, “Sometimes it just takes one domino.” I said, “Everything I hoped for when we began: that by the time the film is ready in a year, funders, programmers, hopefully the audience, everyone will be ready. Hopefully, we shall see.” Then my friend messaged, “I’m so proud of you, dude. You were meant for this.” And I said, “Let’s see how far we go.” That was almost a year ago. And so last night, Chicago gave everything that I dreamt of and more.
How did you first come across these three doctors, and at what point did you realize that their advocacy, their friendship, and their shared journey to Nasser Hospital in Gaza was going to be the core story you wanted to tell?
I think once I found Dr. Mark Perlmutter, it was very clear. He introduced me to Dr. Thaer Ahmad and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa. First, the film’s journey started when I quit my job. I took my money out because nobody was dying to fund a film about Palestine. I knew I had to put my money in first. I mean, I had skin in the game. I was determined to make this film no matter what. So it was good motivation, but I didn’t know what film to make.
Then I saw Mark in a news clip. A reporter asked him, “Why do you think there’s no ceasefire?”—this was in 2024—and he said, “There’s no ceasefire because politicians are *expletive* to lobby groups.” It was a breath of fresh air, and then Mark very soon introduced me to Thaer and Feroze. That’s when I thought, three doctors go into a bar, one is Palestinian, one is Jewish, one is Zoroastrian, and that bar is Gaza. It’s Nasser Medical Complex. Then I wanted to see how they were dealing and what would unfold in the coming months.
Thaer was the person that I filmed. It was Christmas 2024, and it was a lonely, lonely time. The first time I met Thaer in person, we were at a clinic filming the little boy [in the film]. This child who had come to the United States to get medical care. I saw Dr. Thaer be so comforting and gentle in how he approached the child and reassured his guardians as well, and I could see what a good person he was.
A few days later was the Muslim American Society convention in Chicago. I already knew from research that there are about 16,000 Palestinians in the Chicagoland area. So I knew right away I was going to open the film with the MAS convention. I wanted the American public, the general broad public, non-Muslims, non-Arabs, non-Palestinians, to see that this is America. So, we went into the convention center and boom. This is America. This is Chicago. And we invited the audience into the Palestinian American community.
Dr. Thaer’s story is so interesting. He is American, just like these other two guys, and yet he is denied entry into Gaza as a doctor. The way you weave him into the film is really impactful. I think people usually think if you have an American passport, you can do anything. But it’s not true. His Palestinian heritage means he can’t go to Palestine. That’s wild. Thaer’s story is a great way of showing the layers of this institutional discrimination around Palestine.
That was at the center of my motivation for making this film. As a woman of color, as somebody who grew up in a minority religious community where I’m from before I came to the United States, and as somebody from a very working-class background, I’m very perceptive to who gets to say what, who gets to do what, and who gets to go where. So when I met the three of them, that was always front and center for me. And of the three doctors, if I can be honest with you, I was rooting for Thaer to get in. I knew the chances of them getting rejected going to Gaza in March 2025 were very high, but I was rooting for Thaer to get in. So when Feroze and Mark got in, and Thaer got rejected, I was crushed for him. I didn’t even have the words to console him.
He actually spoke about this last night. He disappeared. He totally ghosted me. I freaked out because Thaer, in many ways, is the north star of this film, the heart of this film. When he disappeared, I called him, I texted him, I sent him flowers. I remember calling our director of photography, Chris Renteria, who’s based in Chicago, and saying I thought Thaer was mad at me. Chris said, “No, he’s not mad at you. Give him some time.” But I also realized how important it was to capture this moment. I knew from having spent time with him and the community that Palestinians are very polite, so I flew from New York City, where I live, to Chicago. I told him, “Hi. I’m in Chicago,” and he said, “Okay, come and see me.” That was when we shot the scene of him on the couch.
I think it was about a week and a half or two weeks after his rejection. I remember the conversations that we had leading up to that scene, because he was so in so much despair and anger. He wanted to go to Gaza to help his people, to be with his people. He said that he was embarrassed that he couldn’t help his people. I said to him, “Maybe there’s another role for you. Maybe you are not meant to be there. Maybe you are meant to be outside, to speak for your people. You are your people. You are the continuation of your people on the outside. So speak for them.” That was the lead-up to the scene on the couch where he was very honest with his anger and frustration.
I feel like even though this film is very educational, it is also a very angry film, filled with righteous fury. Like when Dr. Feroze talks about how our tax dollars are paying for this genocide. Our government has broken the social contract with the people who allegedly employ them, and this film states those facts very clearly. You have a scene towards the end where you have a news broadcast soundbite from Trump, basically saying that the IDF has used the weapons we gave them well. Then you show what weapons were used – destroying another hospital. It’s a really great piece of editing. It really drives home that the people in charge don’t care.
The film was born out of deep despair and rage. But I also realized if I didn’t convert that into something for myself—and I’m only speaking for myself—it would consume me. Hence the movie “American Doctor.” I’m still thinking about the screening last night. After the film ended, everybody was like, “God bless you, thank you.” It’s impactful when it comes from the community, or even people outside the community. I think to myself that I am so thankful and so grateful to be in Thaer’s world and Feroze and Mark’s world, because they’ve saved me.
Whatever your skill is, putting that energy towards something creative and hopeful is good because, as you said, despair can overwhelm you.
If you linger there for too long, it’ll consume you. I think acknowledging it is important. Acknowledging raw emotions is very important. I think it is important to acknowledge despair, acknowledge rage, and sit with it, but also to know that it will pass. This has been the biggest lesson in my faith. In Buddhism, we are not supposed to hold on to things, even emotions, even feelings. We’re not supposed to hold on tightly. We’re supposed to acknowledge the good and the bad, and that it will pass. That you cannot hold on to it, and so have faith that it will be better. So actually, making this film has been very experiential when it comes to the faith.
A scene that really stuck with me since Sundance is that opening sequence where Mark is saying you can’t blur out images of dead children; that it would be journalistic malpractice. Then the camera holds on those horrible images for quite a while. The film, for me, feels like it’s a film trying to convince people who keep looking away to stop looking away. Why do you think people can still keep looking away so many years into this?
I don’t want to judge other people. I look at the people around me, right? My own friends, and when I was making the film, I was so upset at the people around me because my mind couldn’t understand. It couldn’t process what I was seeing, and just the people around me and how they were. But of course, when I took a step back, I realized that there are a lot of things that occupy one’s mind, especially in the United States. Life isn’t easy here. We have ICE crackdowns. The unemployment situation. So many things right on top of each other. When you look at the situation domestically, so many terrible things are happening on a consistent daily basis. So when something is happening so far away, in Gaza and the West Bank, or in different parts of that region, how are people going to actually compute? These days, when I have more patience and I take a step back, I can see that.
During that first scene, I was frustrated. I wanted it in the film because I wanted to shake my friends and my family. I couldn’t understand, and yet I also understood. So, that’s why that scene is at the top, and why the film is the way it is. I wanted to speak to them, and I didn’t have the language anymore. Then Mark, Thaer, and Feroze gave me the language.
You produced “Patrice: The Movie,” which is so joyous, but it’s also a social change film. It’s really about discrimination at its heart, even though it’s a rom-com-style documentary. With these two films, both social-change documentaries, do you feel that in this era, where so many documentaries are being made, this medium can still help facilitate change?
Absolutely. The power of story can always facilitate change. It’s just how you do it. As a former studio executive, I watch how people watch things. We see what draws them in. With “Patrice: The Movie,” it was clear to me that people like romantic comedies. Seeing director Ted Passon’s vision, I thought, “This is the way we can highlight the inequality when it comes to the disabled community, to put it front and center to a broad audience.”
With “American Doctor,” I knew that Americans love medical dramas. They love “The Pitt.” I love “The Pitt.” So I thought, let’s give them “The Pitt,” but the difference is it’s real, and it’s set in Gaza. Audiences like to see interactions between doctors, healthcare workers, nurses, and patients. Let’s do the same thing in our film. Let’s show Dr. Abed and Dr. Ahem with Dr. Mark. Let’s show Dr. Feroze with Dr. Khaled. Let’s show doctors’ banter. Let’s show camaraderie, let’s show the love for life, let’s show the despair, let’s show friendship, using the elements of another genre, in this case scripted medical dramas, learning those storytelling techniques, and applying them to documentary. The difference is, in documentary, it’s real.
In this day and age, when so much is curated and fake with AI, people want what’s real. And last night at the Music Box Theatre, I saw that. I felt the yearning for reality.
Even if it’s hard.
Yes, even when it’s hard. Because what’s going to happen? It’s still in your mind, right? If you’re following it, if you’re reading news, it’s still playing in your mind. So what better way than to be part of the story by watching it, and then being in the community? That’s how one can process the moment. That’s how I’ve processed it. We’ve had the film playing at festivals for eight months now, and it’s out in the world. I feel so much more confident than I’ve ever been that, one, this was absolutely the right decision, and two, we are heading in the right direction.
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