My documentary "Gaza... Doctors Under Attack" wins British prize

"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" won the Best Current Affairs Program award at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts BAFTA Awards, during a ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall.

The documentary, produced by Basement Films, focuses on documenting first-hand testimonies of Palestinian doctors and nurses who worked in Gaza hospitals under bombardment, by showing live footage from operating rooms, revealing the targeting of health facilities, and the enormous workload that medical staff faced during the aggression. 

The film presented an intense humanitarian narrative and was considered one of the strongest works documenting the suffering of Gaza's health sector during the Israeli attacks.

The BBC refused to broadcast the film... Channel 4 has done it justice.

Although the film was produced for the BBC, the BBC refused to broadcast it in June 2025 on the grounds of "concerns related to editorial neutrality", which sparked a wave of widespread criticism, which accused the channel of "silencing the truth", especially since the film passed the editorial vetting stages and received broadcast dates before being frozen.

Channel 4 embraced the film and decided to show it, in a move that the cast described as "courageous" and allowed the film to reach British and international audiences.

Victory speech turns into public attack on BBC

The film team was directly critical of the BBC, with executive producer Ben de Beer sarcastically attacking the BBC: "Since you dropped our film... Are you going to drop us from tonight's BAFTA broadcast?" , forcing the BBC to broadcast the victory speech as part of its official coverage of the ceremony, even though it had previously dropped the film.

The film's victory also sparked a wave of reaction in the British and international media, and many saw it as a victory for press freedom and the right of victims to tell their story. 

The victory also opened up the debate within Britain about the BBC's standards of neutrality, coverage of the war in Gaza, the limits of editorial censorship, and the role of the media in armed conflicts, as he described the case as a real test of freedom of expression in Britain.

 Remarkable Palestinian presence in international awards

During 2025 and 2026, international documentary cinema witnessed a remarkable Palestinian presence, which culminated in the winning of prestigious international awards for several works dealing with the war on Gaza.

In March 2026, "Inside Gaza" won the grand prize and the audience prize at the French festival of Vigra, while "Fragments of War" won the jury prize at the same festival, strengthening Gaza's presence on the most prominent European documentary film platforms.

The film "The Voice of Hind Rajab" also stood out in 2025 with several international awards, in addition to the Palestinian film "Palestine 36" topping the nominations of the Arab Film Critics Awards for 2026, confirming the growing global interest in the Palestinian novel and its transformation into an influential cinematic material that enjoys increasing international recognition.

BAFTA Awards

BAFTA was founded in 1958 after the merger of the British Film Academy with the Television Guild as the British Film and Television Association.

The BAFTA Awards are one of the world's most prestigious awards in film and television, recognising the best works presented in the UK.

BAFTA is known as the British equivalent of the Academy Awards and Emmys due to its significant influence in the industry, and the awards are divided into four main categories: Film Awards, TV Awards, TV Crafts Awards and Electronic Game Awards.

 The Academy relies on a rigorous voting system in which specialized committees and thousands of members participate, which gives the award its prestigious status and makes winning it an important indicator of the quality of artistic production.