EXCLUSIVE: Conic has acquired all UK-Ireland distribution rights to American Doctor, a documentary set in Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the war.
Conic acquired the film from Austria’s Autlook Filmsales, and is planning a release for 2026.
The film launched in the US Documentary Competition at Sundance in January. It has since played at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, where it won the Amnesty International Award and Audience Award; and at CPH:DOX, where it won an honourable mention in the Human:Rights Award section.
American Doctor follows three prominent medics, different people bound by a shared oath to save lives, as they travel to volunteer in Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the Israel-Hamas war.
The film is a feature directorial debut for Malaysian-born, US-based filmmaker Teng, who previously produced shorts including St. Louis Superman, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2020.
It is produced by Teng, Kirstine Barfod and Reem Haddad, for US company Tiny Boxer Films.
Co-producers are Mohammed Sawwaf and Kasper Lykke Schultz, with executive producers Simon Kilmurry, Hamza Ali, Glennon Doyle, Rasha Mansouri, Hassan Elmasry, Poh Si Teng, Rami Elghandour, Andreas Dalsgaard, Mehdi Hasan, Juan Pablo Raymond and Kiran Alvi.
Watermelon Pictures acquired North American rights on the film this month and is scheduling a US theatrical release for later in 2026.
“It is hard to overstate how meaningful it is to bring American Doctor to audiences in the UK and Ireland,” said Teng. “We are deeply grateful to the team at Conic for making this possible. In a time of expanding war and genocide, people of conscience are standing together.”
“American Doctor is an urgent and deeply humane documentary that bears witness with extraordinary clarity and compassion,” said Conic co-director Graham Fulton. “Poh Si Teng places the audience right alongside the doctors in Gaza, and sharing their experiences makes this a vital film to be seen.”
Conic previously acquired Anna Hints’ Estonian documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood from Autlook.
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