Arts & Entertainment
Chicago Palestine Film Festival Includes Documentary About Local Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza
Poh Si Teng’s “American Doctor,” featuring Chicago emergency medicine physician Dr. Thaer Ahmad, will close the 25th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival. The festival runs April 11-25, 2026, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, with additional encore screenings. (Courtesy of Poh Si Teng)
Chicago emergency medicine physician Dr. Thaer Ahmad described having no other choice but to speak out after spending three weeks in 2024 volunteering at Nasser Hospital and Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza.
“You don’t forget the survivors who are now traumatized because they were woken up and they were trapped beneath rubble and had to wait hours to survive, or the kids who’ve lost their parents or the parents who’ve lost their kids,” said Ahmad, who described working with scarce supplies at the hospitals and hearing the sounds of bombs going off in the distance.
Ahmad, a Palestinian American, is among three doctors featured in Poh Si Teng’s documentary “American Doctor” that will be screened during the 25th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival later this month.
The Chicago Palestine Film Festival runs April 11-25 at the Gene Siskel Film Center and includes several post-screening Q&As and additional encore screenings.
This year, the festival has more than 50 films in its lineup, including feature and short films.
The volunteer-run festival aims to promote the work of Palestinian filmmakers and those making films about the Palestinian territories; to push back against negative stereotypes and images of Palestinians and Arabs in media; and to provide a space for Palestinians to see themselves on screen, according to executive director Nina Shoman-Dajani.
“We want to show the diversity of Palestinian lived experiences, and not just those that are focused on the everyday military occupation of Israel, the ongoing genocide and the hardships of the Palestinian people,” Shoman-Dajani said. “We want to also share the stories of Palestinian love and joy and cultural traditions and music and family.”
In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the festival will feature giveaways, a coffee cart, a workshop at 18th Street Casa de Cultura in Pilsen, and a tribute to the late Palestinian filmmaker and actor Mohammad Bakri at Haymarket House in Uptown, according to Shoman-Dajani.
The 25th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival runs April 11-25, 2026, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, including several post-screening Q&As and additional encore screenings. (Courtesy of Nina Shoman-Dajani)
The festival aims to showcase the work of emerging filmmakers as well as award-winning, internationally known filmmakers. Films include those submitted from Gaza, Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank and Palestinian territories. The festival also highlights films of the Palestinian diaspora in the U.S. and around the world.
“These type of films are probably some of the hardest films to produce in the world," Shoman-Dajani said. “We have people who are literally trying to survive for their lives every single day, and are risking their lives to make these films, so that we can watch them on this big screen.”
Shoman-Dajani said the focus is not about entertainment; rather, the festival aims to activate its audience to want to see change in U.S. foreign policy.
The festival’s sold-out closing night film, “American Doctor,” follows three physicians — Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian — who work together at besieged Nasser Hospital in Gaza. The film shows their journey as they return to the U.S. to spread awareness for their Palestinian colleagues and patients.
“It’s similar in style to something like HBO’s ‘The Pitt’ — the only difference is it’s real and it’s set in Gaza,” said director Poh Si Teng. Formerly of Al Jazeera English, Teng produced the 2019 Oscar-nominated short documentary film “St. Louis Superman.”
Filming for “American Doctor” began around late December 2024, and production wrapped up roughly a year later, according to Teng. The documentary, some of which was filmed in Chicago, includes Baraa Abu Alroos, a young boy who was evacuated from Gaza and arrived in Chicago nearly two years ago.
Ahmad hopes the documentary inspires audiences to think critically about what they see and hear in mainstream media and from elected officials as it relates to the Palestinian territories, and inspires them to use their voice. “I just want a conversation to happen, and I want it to happen in a sincere way,” Ahmad said.
The documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It has also screened at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival and True/False Film Festival in Missouri and was the opening film at the Movies that Matter Festival in the Hague.
When asked what she hopes audience members will take away from the film, Teng said: “Keep the conversation going about what’s happening in Gaza, in Palestine, in the expanding war. If we live in a democracy, then know the role that we are playing in and what our government is doing in regards to what is happening in the Middle East.”
For both screenings of “American Doctor” on April 25 and April 26, 2026, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, director Poh Si Teng, along with Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. (Courtesy of Nina Shoman-Dajani)
In the past three years, Shoman-Dajani said she has seen an expansion of Palestinian film and cinema.
Notably, films such as the 2024 Oscar award-winning documentary “No Other Land” and the 2025 Oscar-nominated docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab” have spread awareness of the impact of the war in Gaza.
While there has been increased funding and support for Palestinian films, filmmakers still face challenges, according to Shoman-Dajani, and the international community has had to get creative about how to get funding and support for Palestinian cinema.
“That has shown the resilience of Palestinian film, that it will survive no matter what’s happening: COVID, the ongoing genocide and the occupation of Palestinian people,” Shoman-Dajani said. “You cannot suppress Palestinian voices, and the more that you try, the louder that we get.”
Encore dates have been added for the festival’s sold-out opening night and closing night films, Colette Ghunim’s “Traces of Home” and Teng’s “American Doctor,” respectively. In addition, encores have also been added for Alaa Aliabdallah’s “Palestine Comedy Club” and Jason Osder and William Youmans’ “Who Killed Alex Odeh?”
An additional two encores have yet to be announced, according to festival organizers.
This year, the festival has a record number of special guests expected to be in attendance, including filmmakers and those featured in films, according to Shoman-Dajani.
For both screenings of “American Doctor” on April 25 and April 26, Teng will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A, along with Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa.
The festival is a welcoming space and is open to all ages and backgrounds, Shoman-Dajani said.
“You don’t need to know anything about Palestine,” Shoman-Dajani said. “You don’t have to be an active member of the community. You can just come to learn, come with an open mind.”
Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]
