EXCLUSIVE: Daniele Rugo’s Sheffield DocFest world premiere Life Support has been acquired for UK-Ireland release by Dartmouth Films.
The feature documentary, by UK-based Italian filmmaker Rugo, explores the harrowing first-hand experiences of international doctors operating in the blockaded Gaza Strip over two years, at a time when the global media has been barred from reporting.
Footage shows healthcare workers navigating bombed-out hospitals, dwindling supplies, starvation and an overwhelming influx of casualties, predominantly women and children.
Life Support is in the running for the Tim Hetherington award at Sheffield DocFest in June.
Producers are UK-based Cocoon Films, which executive produced The Voice Of Hind Rajab and Palestine 36, Qatar’s Metafora and William Parry’s UK-based Pressure Cooker Arts.
Executive producers include Susan Sarandon, Melissa Barrera, Farah Nabulsi, Sawsan Asfari, Asif Kapadia and Paul Weller.
“Directing this documentary has been an incredible privilege,” said Rugo. “What these doctors have witnessed and documented is of crucial importance. The stories they tell and the images they share in the film hold up a mirror. Their moral injury—the price of bearing witness—is one we must all share. Their presence in Gaza is an act of radical solidarity that questions the world’s silence.”
“Producing this film is one essential way of cataloguing the horrific crimes committed by Israel with the West’s complicity, and we created it with the aim of documenting Israel’s war crimes so that justice one day, after this current phase of lawlessness and impunity has ended, can be served for the people of Palestine,” added Parry.
Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja composed an original score for the film and has produced an accompanying album that will be released with the film’s theatrical run, including music from Kneecap and Paul Weller.
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