Awards Daily is proud to offer this exclusive clip of Oscar-nominated director Skye Fitzgerald’s (Lifeboat) latest entry in his trilogy of films on the global refugee crisis: Hunger Ward. The film will have its world premiere this week at the virtual HollyShorts Film Festival (November 9 – 15) and was just added to DOC NYC’s Short List Festival (November 11 – 19), but you can get your first look right here!
The film is produced by Michael Scheuerman and Skye Fitzgerald. It is a Spin Film Production and produced by Vulcan Productions. Executive Producers on the film are Jody Allen, Ruth Johnston, Matt Milios, Jannat Gargi, Hayley Pappas and Matt Ippolito.
“Our greatest hope is that HUNGER WARD can bring to light the continued violence inflicted on the Yemeni people by foreign actors – including the United States of America. Often referred to as ‘the forgotten war’ our film aims to bring to a broad audience the effects US intervention in Yemen has on innocent civilians. This includes the existence of hunger wards dedicated to saving children from starvation in a conflict where food is being used as a weapon of war. We believe the film can serve as a call to action for Americans to come together and end our involvement in a foreign war our tax dollars are currently funding.” — Director Skye Fitzgerald
ABOUT THE FILM
Filmed entirely in Yemen in January and February 2020, HUNGER WARD documents two female health care workers fighting to thwart the spread of starvation within a population facing the most urgent hunger crisis on the planet. From inside two of the most active therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen, the film follows Dr. Aida Alsadeeq and Nurse Mekkia Mahdi as they work to save lives of children faced with starvation due to the ongoing civil war. Reporting from Yemen is incredibly difficult and often very dangerous, making HUNGER WARD that much more unique – and important. The filmmakers “threaded the COVID 19 needle” (Fitzgerald) and were able to complete principal photography immediately prior to the country shutting down all commercial flights into and out of Yemen.