A University of Dundee student's harrowing documentary on medics working in Palestinian occupied territories will be shown this weekend in London as part of the Raindance Film Festival.
Director and third year medical student Saleyah Ahsan followed international and Palestinian doctors and nurses for two months as they attempted to help the people of Ramallah and Dundee’s twin-city Nablus during heavy fighting with Israeli forces in July and August 2002.
On her return to Dundee, she joined forces with three postgraduate students from the School of Television and Imaging at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design to produce a 57-minute film.
As a medical student, Saleyha gained a unique insight into the work of medical teams operating under immense pressure and with limited resources. The result is a raw, stark film including bloody images from the frontline.
Article 17 - Doctors in Palestine, Saleyha's first attempt at film-making, will now be screened as part of the celebrated independent film festival Raindance which has previously launched box office hits such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Blair Witch Project.
Saleyha said, "As a medic my aim was to record what it was like working in a situation where dedicated nurses and doctors have to strive against the odds - often risking their lives - to carry out their duties. Here in the UK, ambulances arrive at the scene within a few minutes - there would be outrage if they did not - but in the occupied territories, it can take a day for emergency medical services to reach a patient.
Article 17 is part of the Geneva Convention and states that civilians should be able to access health care in situations of conflict. This screening at the Raindance Film Festival will open up this documentary to a wider audience. The film is not a political comment but simply an objective report."
Editors' notes
Saleyha Ahsan (Director, Producer and Camera), David Hartnett (Editor), Pete Nixon (Sound), Richard Davies (Titles). David, Pete and Richard are all students on the MSc in Electronic Imaging at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee.
Screening of Article 17 - Doctors in Palestine as a part of the Raindance Film Festival will take place on Saturday 2 November, 1pm, UGC Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus, London. Box office 08709 070716.
The medics filmed were members of the UPMRC (the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees).
Contact Saleyha on 01382 566266, 07984 463 261 or email saleyha2002@yahoo.co.uk For more information on the Raindance Film Festival contact Lyndsey at Idea Generation on 0207 428 4949.
By Esther Black, Press Officer 01382 344768 e.z.black@dundee.ac.uk