Sheffield 2026 Review: LIFE SUPPORT Follows Doctors Volunteering in Gaza
Solving the humanitarian crisis in Gaza seems impossible given the politics involved. That hasn't stopped doctors in Life Support from volunteering their services. Daniele Rugo's documentary shows how difficult it is to try to help.
Made up primarily of talking head interviews, Life Support lets several doctors, mostly from Great Britain, testify about their experiences. Rugo buttresses the interviews with archival footage, news excerpts, and first-person accounts delivered on iPhones and laptops.
This is straightforward, conventional filmmaking, with few fashionable tricks like animation or staged re-creations. Doctors simply say what happened, either to Rugo's cameras or at conferences and panels. Background details explain that Gaza, a narrow strip of land that is home to two million Palestinians, has been under siege since 2007.
Professor Nick Maynard, a gastrointestinal surgeon, first visited Gaza in 2010. He had booked a flight for October 2023, but due to the violence of October 7 was prevented from entering Gaza until December. He was part of the first volunteer EMT team allowed into Gaza. Maynard is a warm, trustworthy guide who's eventually reduced to tears by what he sees.
Other doctors, like obstetrician Deborah Harrington or general surgeon Khaled Dawas, explain how volunteers were put up in guest houses to isolate them from targets. They also detail how difficult it was to enter Gaza at all. The obstacles seem cruel and arbitrary, designed to hurt those who are already wounded.
As details accumulate, it becomes clear that Israeli forces are targeting health care facilities in Gaza, like Al-Shifa, the largest medical complex in the strip, besieged and destroyed in April 2024.
Furthermore, since Israeli forces prevent the delivery of medical supplies, patients who undergo successful operations still die within days because of the absence of antibiotics, blood, and food. Even basic hygiene products are banned.
With baby formula unavailable, infants are fed sugar water. And as palliative care physician Mhoira Leng points out, the lack of sedatives for pain control "amounts to torture."
Plastic surgeon Victoria Rose asserts that making religious buildings, schools, and hospitals targets is an attempt to destroy the culture of Gaza, not just the people living there.
Opponents will accuse Life Support of being propaganda, pointing to the participation of executive producers Asif Kapadia and Susan Sarandon as proof of bias. But as the atrocities continue, it's hard to ignore what appears to be deliberate genocide — as a UN special committee concluded in September 2025.
Details, statistics, and explanations are one way to make a case. But can anyone argue against footage of maimed and killed children? Life Support includes several horrifying clips, perhaps none worse than a shot of a bomb exploding in a crowd.
Difficult to watch, Life Support should be necessary viewing for anyone who thinks the siege of Gaza should continue. Unfortunately, they are the people least likely to see this.
The film enjoyed its world premiere at the 2026 Sheffield DocFest. Visit the film's page at the official festival site for more information.
