Synopsis:

After 43 horrific days working round the clock under constant bombardment in the emergency rooms of Gaza’s Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals, British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, emerged to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance.

With news footage of him pale and shell-shocked reverberating around the world, he spoke of a catalogue of horrors from lacerated bodies, to amputations without anaesthetics, orphaned children with no surviving family, and the deliberate targeting of medics and hospital facilities. This was Ghassan’s sixth and most horrific Gaza “war”. Why does he do it? Where does he find the strength to face it again and again? How does it impact his family? How do they process the risks he takes? The answer lies simply in their shared passion: Palestine, a passion they articulate through their support of his perilous humanitarian work.

Filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, close friends of Abu Sittah’s, share that same passion. They were waiting anxiously for Ghassan to emerge from Gaza, following a long and terrifying journey through the night, to meet him in Amman. Determined to capture his raw emotions they began filming him the moment he arrived through the door. Following him to Beirut, Amman, London, Kuwait and Dubai, they and he explore their common State of Passion.

Director’s profile:

Carol Mansour is an independent documentary filmmaker. She founded Forward Film Production in 2000 in Beirut, Lebanon. With over 25 years in documentary production, Mansour achieved international recognition and honour for her films, with over fifty film festival screenings and officials elections worldwide.Her films have been screened at several festivals in Europe and North America, winning numerous prestigious awards including most recently, the Best Short Documentary at Rated SR Festival 2021 inNew York, and the Prix Spécial du Festival at the FIFOG 2021 Festival in Geneva. In 2018, Carol received the Best Documentary Award at the Delhi International Film Festival and in 2017, she received the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Boston Palestine Film Festival for “Stitching Palestine”, among many other prizes. Carol’s work reflects her concern for human rights and social justice, covering issues such as migrant workers, refugees, environmental issues, mental health, rights of the disabled, war and memory, right to health, and child labor. Carol is Lebanese/ Canadian of Palestinian origin. She studied in Montreal, Canada, and is currently living and working from Beirut, Lebanon.

Producer’s profile:

With a Ph.D. in health policy and planning, and with 30 years’ experience working in the social and health development fields in Lebanon and the Arab region, Muna Khalidi has been working with various international and local organisations providing technical assistance for them to develop strategic plans and to design and develop programs. In 2012 she began working on the research and production of documentary films dealing with issues of social justice and human rights, bringing her experience in the academic, public, private, and NGO sectors into the film and documentary-making field. Working alongside director Carol Mansour, they have produced 11 award winning documentary films and scores of short films. Muna is on the Board of Directors of four national Lebanese NGOs implementing social development, mental health care and hospice care programs within both the Lebanese, as well as the Palestinian and Syrian refugee communities in Lebanon.