Local filmmaker’s documentary to be screened for Congress
Dean Bushala tells stories with film. He’s an Emmy Award-winning producer, a director and a cinematographer, and his work takes him to challenging environments where he’s filmed people, places and situations all over the world.
His current Emmy-nominated documentary short, Khsara, is about medical workers in Gaza as they attempt to provide humanitarian aid within a war zone.
The world “khsara” (k-sar-a) means “loss, damage, deficit” in Arabic, and the film is approximately 14 minutes long and available to watch for free on the Khsara website.
Unable to be on location in Gaza, Bushala produced the film from video diaries filmed with compact cameras he provided to doctors. Dr. Tammy Abughnaim and Dr. Thaer Ahma, both board-certified in emergency medicine and Illinois residents, provide the context and narration in the film. MedGlobal coordinated their voluntary assignments in Gaza.
Bushala’s production partner, Jameeleh Shelo, is taking the film to Congress on Wednesday, May 14, to generate interest and action in protecting caregivers trying to help civilians. They were invited to show the film as part of a global health initiative, according to Bushala.
Abughnaim and Ahma, along with Dr. John Taylor, will speak as part of a panel discussion.
A desire to render care
The film deliberately skirts the fraught geopolitical issues that led to the conflict in Gaza.
It does not mention Israeli hostages or Hamas. It only focuses on the immense suffering of civilians and the inability of volunteer physicians to render suitable health care to many people in need.
“This is not a political film,” Bushala said. “It’s not a film about land dispute. It’s about doctors and those in need of health care not being targets in a war zone. That’s what led to Fractured. The rules of engagement have changed.”
Fractured – Humanitarian Medical Aid Under Fire is about the dangers health-care workers face in places like Gaza, Afghanistan, Congo, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen. Bushala directed that film as well.
Abughnaim is one participant in Fractured, a film still in production that Bushala describes as “a call to action.”
Bushala’s wanderlust and expertise filming under challenging conditions made him a natural choice for health-care organizations like Doctors Without Borders, MedGlobal, Save the Children and WorldVision when it was time to film the aftermath of natural disasters.
He traveled to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in 2004 after a tsunami, to New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 2010 after an earthquake.
Movies and television
Bushala’s work includes movies, commercials and television episodes for content companies such as Disney+, National Geographic, PBS, Discovery and History Channels.
A partial list of credits will sound familiar to anyone who channel surfs: Moonshiners, Logger Wars, Yukon Vet, Flip or Flop Chicago, Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER and Ice Road Truckers, to name a few.
Earlier in his career, he created children’s content using animation in Ebos’ Adventures. This program won multiple awards for educational programming.
Documentaries and feature films are a subset of Bushala’s work. In 1993, he directed a groundbreaking film, Green on Thursdays: The Crusade Against Gay-Bashing. The 76-minute film received many awards from film festivals in the United States, Germany, New Zealand and England.
Bushala directed and is currently finishing The Divide Within about an elderly man who embraces his transgender identity after seeing the struggles of his gay grandson. He hopes to release it in late 2025.
He also produced Discovering Catherine, a 2024 release about an Evanston lawyer and women’s rights advocate. In October 2024, the Woman’s Club of Evanston, in partnership with the Evanston History Center, screened Discovering Catherine before an appreciative audience.
Dyslexia as a superpower
Bushala grew up in Highland Park and attended Syracuse University, which is where he learned about filmmaking.
He has dyslexia, which is why he gravitated toward a career in film. He’s always been a visual learner and sees his dyslexia as a sort of “superpower.”
“In retrospect, dyslexia has been a blessing for me,” he said. “I love films. Dyslexia forced me to lean into visual storytelling. I love the personal connection I get when I’m embedded in someone’s life while making a documentary.”
Bushala promised to get back to the RoundTable once he completes The Divide Within and Fractured. Stay tuned for more insights from a leading and local filmmaker.
