About the Film

Don’t Leave Us Behind: A Poet’s Echo from Gaza is an artistic documentary following Ahmed Sarsour, a displaced Sudanese-Palestinian surviving his second genocide through poetry and digital media.

Born in Gaza and raised in Sudan since he was 9 years old, Ahmed lost everything after 21 years of work and study as a telecommunications engineer once war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

With no choice but to temporarily return to Gaza before immigrating to Egypt, Ahmed and his family found themselves trapped in the besieged enclave after the start of the Israeli genocide on October 7th, 2023. At the moment of writing this, he is still stuck in Gaza, doing his best to create and survive on an empty stomach.

The documentary captures Ahmed’s struggle as an outsider to his Gazan background whild finding moments of beauty and normalcy in the face of genocide. As he observes the changes and consistencies after being away from his war-torn country, Ahmed realizes how little the outside world understands his people.

In order to remind the world of Gazan’s humanity, Ahmed writes and documents his daily life surrounded by death and depravity at the hands of the Israeli occupation over the course of two years.

This website and Chuffed fundraising campaign seeks to raise critical funds needed to develop this project into the professional vision Ahmed has an aspiring filmmaker and resilient artist. This will include film production and advertisement costs as well as future applications for film festivals and distribution. Additional funds raised from this campaign will be distributed in the form of honorariums, for up to 30 people, who are featured in the film. This will help give them some support to rebuild their lives beyond genocide.

Ahmed needs all the help he can get in seeing this project succeed as envisioned. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in providing their services pro-bono as an act of solidarity and resistance, please contact Ahmed directly in how you would contribute to the development of this project by emailing:

Dontleaveusbehindfilm@gmail.com