Medhi Hasan's media company Zeteo is acquiring and will be releasing globally the Gaza medics documentary produced by Basement Films Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. The film tells the testimony of Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers treating patients in Gaza and how they try to do their work and survive amid Israel’s military attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers (a breach of international law).
The documentary was originally set to be released by the BBC. However, last week, the BBC announced that it would not be broadcasting the film after all. An announcement that came after months of delays:
We paused production of this film in April, having made a decision that we could not broadcast the film while a review into a separate Gaza documentary was ongoing. With both films coming from independent production companies, and both about Gaza, it was right to wait for any relevant findings – and put them into action – before broadcasting the film.
However, we wanted the doctors’ voices to be heard. Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published.
For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms.
Yesterday it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions. We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC. Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world’s most trusted broadcaster.
Therefore, we are transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films.
Contrary to some reports, since we paused production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack in April, it has not undergone the BBC’s final pre-broadcast sign-off processes. Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film.
In May, over 600 hundred members of the film industry – including Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon and British filmmaker Mike Leigh – signed an open letter criticizing the BBC for delaying the release of the film, accusing them of censoring Palestinian voices:
Every day this film is delayed, the BBC fails in its commitment to inform the public, fails in its journalistic responsibility to report the truth, and fails in its duty of care to these brave contributors,” the letter states. “No news organisation should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling. This important film should be seen by the public, and its contributors’ bravery honoured.
The film will now be available Wednesday, July 2nd, to paid subscribers at Zeteo.com. It will also be available in the UK on Channel 4 at a later date.
“I am delighted that Zeteo is acquiring the global rights for such an important, vital and devastating film, which has been shamefully blocked from release by the BBC for so long. This is one of the reasons I founded Zeteo with the support of our subscribers: to platform the journalistic voices that are being censored on the biggest issues of our time, whether it be fascism at home or genocide abroad,” said Mehdi Hasan, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Zeteo.
“This is the third film we have made about the assault on Gaza since October 7th at Basement Films, and whilst none of them have been easy this became by far the most difficult," read a statement from Basement Films. "As ever we owe everything to our Palestinian colleagues on the ground; over 200 of whom have been killed by Israel, and the doctors and medics who trusted us with their stories. We want to apologise to the contributors and team for the long delay, and thank Channel 4 and Zeteo for enabling it to be seen around the world.”