NFB Collection
War Hospital
20051 h 29 min 10 secFilm: Documentary
Direction: David ChristensenDamien Lewis
Production: Bonnie Thompson (National Film Board of Canada)Graydon McCreaTakahiro HamanoNobuo Isobe
Script: David ChristensenDamien Lewis
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-production with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), with the assistance of CTV, NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation), Discovery Communications Inc. and Banff Television Foundation.
Shot in cinéma vérité, War Hospital intensely immerses the viewer in the sights and sounds of the world's largest field hospital. Over the past eighteen years the International Committee of the Red Cross has cared for victims of the civil war in Sudan - the longest-running conflict in Africa - near the Sudanese border in Likichoggio, northern Kenya.
The ICRC allowed filmmakers David Christensen and Damien Lewis unprecedented access to the surgical hospital and local medical staff as they go about their duties, caring for wounded Sudanese soldiers and women and children, all casualties of the civil war. With no narrator and minimal explanation, War Hospital simply and powerfully captures the joy and sadness of life and death. From the beginning glimpses of rebel fighters singing patriotic songs to the final, sombre graveyard scene, the documentary subtly brings home the horrors of war.
Warning: This film contains graphic medical images.
Availability
Subject categories
- Health and Medicine > Accidents, Emergencies and First AidDeveloping Countries
- Developing Countries > AfricaHealth and IllnessHealth in AfricaWar, Conflict and Peace
- War, Conflict and Peace > AfricaWar Victims
Credits
- writer
- David Christensen
- Damien Lewis
- director
- David Christensen
- Damien Lewis
- producer
- Bonnie Thompson
- Takahiro Hamano
- associate producer
- David Christensen
- Damien Lewis
- editor
- Emma S. Barry
- camera
- Damien Lewis
- David Christensen
- location sound
- John Blerot
- location production manager
- Hannah Lewis
- online editor
- Denis Pilon
- sound design
- John Blerot
- Wolf Willow Sound
- assistant sound editor
- Mike Sanders
- sound mix
- Shelley Craig
- post-production
- National Film Board of Canada
- consultant
- Nick Hector
- translation
- Kuai Biar
- Centralized Interpreter Services
- interpretation
- Kuai Biar
- Centralized Interpreter Services
- transcription typist
- Bridget Toms
- producer in development
- Damien Lewis
- David Christensen
- marketing manager
- Kim Ziervogel
- production assistant
- Claudette Laflamme
- Faye Yoneda
- production coordinator
- Ginette D'Silva
- production supervisor
- Kelly Isaac
- program administrator
- Darin Clausen
- executive producer
- Graydon McCrea
- Nobuo Isobe
Awards
- Honorable Mention - Category: FeaturesDigital Media Festival
- Best of the Festival International Film and Video Festival