On November 18, Scandinavia House presents a screening of the unflinching, visceral documentary American Doctor, a Danish qualifier for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards.
American Doctor follows three prominent physicians — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — who, despite their differing backgrounds, are united by a shared calling to confront injustice and uphold their oath to save lives. Dr. Thaer Ahmad is measured and strategic; Dr. Mark Perlmutter is blunt and wears his heart on his sleeve; and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is media-savvy and prolific. Filmed in unfolding, on-the-ground vérité scenes, the story traces their journey from a Gazan hospital under siege to the halls of Congress. Together, they fight to keep a promise to their Palestinian colleagues and patients to continue the struggle where it matters most: in the United States.
ABOUT THE DOCTORS
Dr. Thaer Ahmad is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and humanitarian who has provided medical relief in conflict zones including Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Kenya. He has conducted five medical missions to Gaza, most recently in early 2024, and has since been denied entry five times by Israeli authorities due to his Palestinian heritage. He is an attending physician on the south side of Chicago. He also holds faculty appointments at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and sits on the board of the Palestinian American Medical Association.
Dr. Mark Perlmutter is an orthopedic hand surgeon in rural North Carolina and past President of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgery, the International College of Surgeons, and the World Surgical Foundation. He has completed 40 overseas surgical mission trips across four continents, and responded to Ground Zero on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Port-au-Prince within six hours of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. In 2024 and 2025, he volunteered in three Gaza hospitals.
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a general, trauma, and critical care surgeon in California. He has worked on humanitarian deployments in Gaza, Ukraine, the West Bank, Haiti, Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso.
Photos: © Watermelon Pictures