Humanitarian aid under fire
A documentary
In Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, and beyond,
hospitals are no longer sanctuaries of healing.
PEOPLE KILLED IN ATTACKS ON HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
attacks recorded in conflict zones
injuries as a result
of attacks
World Health Organization. (2025). Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA). Retrieved February 20, 2026, from https://extranet.who.int/ssa/Index.aspx.
931 attacks impacted facilities
411 attacks impacted transport
613 attacks impacted personnel
459 attacks impacted patients
336 Attacks Impacted Supplies
147 Attacks Impacted Warehouses
931 attacks impacted facilities 411 attacks impacted transport 613 attacks impacted personnel 459 attacks impacted patients 336 Attacks Impacted Supplies 147 Attacks Impacted Warehouses
We need to tell this story. now.
Dr. Tammy Abughnaim, an idealistic young American physician, volunteers in a war zone for the first time in the EMMY-nominated short, KHSARA. Her experience becomes a powerful lens into a global crisis, exposing the collapse of medical neutrality and the urgent fight to protect those who heal: doctors, hospitals, and humanitarian aid workers.
Help us create FRACTURED, a bold new documentary investigating the alarming rise of these assaults, and that examines the normalization of targeting the medical world as a tool of war.
We are actively seeking $440,000 in funding from grants and private donors to keep the project fully independent. This commitment to independence is what ensures the film is honest and that the story is told to its complete extent.
Khsara
We are expanding the 2024 Emmy-nominated documentary short KHSARA into a feature-length documentary that explores the erosion of medical neutrality when doctors, ambulances, and hospitals are targeted in war.
931 attacks impacted facilities
411 attacks impacted transport
613 attacks impacted personnel
459 attacks impacted patients
336 Attacks Impacted Supplies
147 Attacks Impacted Warehouses
931 attacks impacted facilities 411 attacks impacted transport 613 attacks impacted personnel 459 attacks impacted patients 336 Attacks Impacted Supplies 147 Attacks Impacted Warehouses
why this film matters
Medical professionals who have taken an oath to heal are now being systematically killed for doing their jobs. Ambulances are shelled, hospitals are reduced to rubble, and the international laws meant to protect humanitarian workers are collapsing before our eyes. FRACTURED is an urgent and necessary film that tells their stories, demands accountability, and calls for real change.
The epidemic of violence is global
Countries and territories with reported attacks
Key:A = Attacks
D = Deaths
I = InjuriesNumber of Doctors Killed in Conflict areas by year
World Health Organization. (2025). Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA). Retrieved February 20, 2026, from https://extranet.who.int/ssa/Index.aspx.
Stand with those who refuse to look away.
FRACTURED is more than a film. It’s a record of courage, defiance, and humanity under fire.
Your support matters.
Your contribution doesn’t just complete a documentary. It defends truth in an age of distortion. It challenges the eroding rules of war that now threaten to become the new normal.
“FRACTURED isn’t a film about policies, war or land disputes; it’s about humanity.”
Dean Bushala, DirectorOur Team
Dean Bushala
Dean Bushala is an Emmy-winning Producer, Director, and Cinematographer whose compelling visual storytelling has resonated with audiences worldwide through his distinguished work with Disney+, National Geographic, MTV, PBS,, Discovery, and History Channel. His career spanning three decades, Bushala has consistently elevated the standards of documentary filmmaking in some of the world's most challenging environments, including the Andes, Amazon Rain Forest, Arctic Ocean, and Eastern Africa.
His latest achievement, KHSARA (2024), earned Dean his 3rd Emmy nomination, adding to an extensive portfolio of accolades, including Emmy, Telly Awards, Anthem Award, Communicators Award, and the prestigious Michael Moore Award for documentary excellence.
Director
Jameeleh Shelo is a native Chicagoan and proud Southsider. She is an Emmy award-winning writer, a Telly award-winning producer, and a performer. She attended Columbia College (Chicago) where she earned a B.A. in Television Writing and Production. Jameeleh Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, Lisa Lampanelli and Cedric the Entertainer. Jameeleh has produced for TBS, Comedy Central, HGTV and DIY Network, Harpo, TLC.
Jameeleh is the former Executive Director of the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and author of “Laith the Lion Goes to Palestine”, and “Sayf’s Eid Adventure”. She is also the CEO and founder of Decentralized Casting LLC (DeCast ™), Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary KHSARA and a 2025 Safina Filmmaker Fellow.
ProducerJameeleh Shelo
FRACTURED has recently signed a development agreement with Kartemquin Films, the Chicago-based nonprofit documentary powerhouse behind acclaimed films such as Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, and Minding the Gap. Kartemquin will provide creative and production support as the film develops, including guidance on story structure, editorial decisions, and visual approach. The filmmakers will also benefit from Kartemquin’s collaborative network of producers, editors, and impact strategists. For nearly six decades, Kartemquin has nurtured groundbreaking, socially engaged documentaries, and their support will help FRACTURED grow into a powerful, resonant film.
“This film is about hope and heroism…fractured is a way to show that even in the most trying times, heroes know no limit.”
Jameeleh Shelo, ProducerOUR PARTNERS
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Tammy Abughnaim is a board certified emergency medicine physician in Illinois. Her work focuses on caring for patients in low-resource settings, ultrasound training for emergency physicians, and integrating social justice into emergency departments.
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Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Global Human Rights Clinic
Anjli Parrin is a human rights advocate and lawyer. She directs the Global Human Rights Clinic, which works alongside partners and communities to advance justice and address the inequalities and structural disparities that lead to human rights violations worldwide.
Parrin conducts human rights fact-finding, investigations, and advocacy around the world. Her practice and research focus on the areas of armed conflict and international criminal law, colonialism and its impacts, discrimination and inequality, and socio-economic rights.
Parrin serves as an expert witness and has worked alongside forensic scientists to carry out complex war crime investigations, including for the International Criminal Court; successfully proposed new law on exhumations for hybrid courts; and provided trainings to judges, lawyers, police, gendarmerie, NGOs and victims associations on the law and science of suspicious death investigations.
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Red Cross Disaster Services Hero Award Winner, Regional Director MedGlobal – Latin America Dr. Kahler is a general pediatrician who was Chief Medical Officer for a municipal Federally Qualified Health Center in Joliet, Il until his retirement in January 2017.
Dr. Kahler received a B.A. from the University of Illinois and an M.D. from the University of Illinois in Chicago. He did his pediatric training at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where he practiced for 34 years. In addition to his work at County, he maintained an active pediatric practice in Hyde Park. He then moved to be Regional Medical Director for a large Federally Qualified Health Center in Chicago and became its Chief Medical Officer.
For teh past 25 years, he has had an interest in global health and has participated in humanitarian work around the world from Mexico to Haiti to Tanzania. In 2016, he dedicated his time to the Syrian diaspora in Jordan, Lebanon and Greece. With his mentor and MedGlobal cofounder, Dr Zaher Sahloul, in July 2016, he was in Aleppo, Syria as the siege was completed. After returning from Syria, Dr Kahler retired from clinical work to dedicate his time building a humanitarian organization concerned with the needs of the displaced and desperate. In 2017, Drs Sahloul, Anu Shivaraju and he established the INGO MedGlobal. There first deployment was in Bangladesh at the beginning of the Rohingya exodus of 2017. Since 2018, Dr Kahler has been responsible for the MedGlobal project in Colombia serving the needs of the Venezuelan migrants and refugees.
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Medical Director, Vascular Surgery, Memorial Hospital WeAs the medical director of vascular surgery, Dr. Sonya Tuerff, MBA, FACS, FSVS, RPVI, CHCQM, is a vascular surgeon with over 20 years of experience. She is currently the Medical Director, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Memorial Hospital.
