Why ‘American Doctor’ Director Quit Her ABC Executive Job and Drained Her Savings Account to Make a Documentary About Gaza Healthcare Workers

Home Film Features Aug 21, 2026 10:53am PT Why ‘American Doctor’ Director Quit Her ABC Executive Job and Drained Her Savings Account to Make a Documentary About Gaza Healthcare Workers By Matt Minton Plus Icon Matt Minton mminton@variety.com Latest Why ‘American Doctor’ Director Quit Her ABC Executive Job and Drained Her Savings Account to Make a Documentary About Gaza Healthcare Workers 7 minutes ago Charles Melton in Talks for ‘Naruto’ Movie as Kakashi 24 hours ago Shirley MacLaine Makes Rare Video Appearance at 92 Years Old and Quips About ‘Sweet Charity’: ‘It Didn’t Do Very Well’ 2 days ago See All MPI Media Group When Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Poh Si Teng heard the news of her colleague Samer Abu Daqqa being killed by an Israeli drone strike while on assignment back in December 2023, something in her broke. “When it’s your peer, it affects you in a very deep way. And then of course I was living in New York, being in all these circles because I worked in all these places — pin drop silence from journalists, from people I respected,” Teng says. “I couldn’t continue as I was.” Related Stories China's Pingyao Film Festival Sets 10th Edition Dates – Global Bulletin