A DOCUMENTARY DRAMA
Dr. TOM CATENA – coming to us LIVE from the heart of SUDAN.
THE STORY
Dr. Tom Catena’s patients come to him from hundreds of miles away on foot, in carts, or often cradled in their mother’s arms. Welcome to the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, an area of the world so void of humanitarian and media attention that years of war go ignored and cries for help go largely unheard.
Here, this lone American surgeon tends with equal compassion to patients ranging from malnutrition and leprosy, to grave wounds inflicted by the indiscriminate bombings ordered by their own president, Omar al-Bashir. When a government can attack defenseless men, women and children with supersonic bombers and it doesn’t make anyone’s newswire, something is terribly awry.
The only surgeon within 200 miles, “Dr. Tom” does his best to save lives in the midst of carnage and terror, treating as many as 400 patients a day at Mother of Mercy Hospital, nestled in the heart of the Nuba Mountains. The region is the latest target of Omar al-Bashir, a man wanted by the International Criminal Court for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
Surrounded by a country at war and living under the constant shadow of aerial bombardment, Dr. Tom and his mostly local staff defy Bashir’s ban on humanitarian aid, and work tirelessly to serve the Nuba people. This population of one million Muslims, Christians, Animists and Africans of traditional belief have lived together harmoniously for centuries. Now, together with Dr. Tom Catena, they struggle to survive.
ABOUT DR. TOM CATENA
Since 2007, Dr. Tom Catena, a Catholic missionary from Amsterdam, NY, has been the only doctor permanently based in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, which has a population of more than half a million people.
Dr. Catena attended Brown University where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but felt called to missionary work. Realizing there were limited opportunities given his background, he decided to pursue a medical career and attended Duke University School of Medicine on a U.S. Navy scholarship.
After graduating, he completed his Navy commitment and later began missionary work in Africa. He volunteered at St. Mary’s Hospital in Nairobi for six years before helping establish the Mother of Mercy Hospital, where he currently labors day and night to help heal the sick and the wounded victims of jihadist war.
Dr. Catena typically treats up to 400 patients in a day and is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Patients have been known to walk for 7 days to receive treatment and typically visit the hospital with injuries from bombing attacks and ailments varying from bone fractures to malnourishment and malaria.
Limited by his surroundings, Dr. Catena sometimes uses decades-old treatments and often times doesn’t have electricity or running water. He estimates he performs more than a thousand operations a year.
KENNETH CARLSON, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Kenneth A. Carlson directed and produced the award-winning, feature length documentary THE HEART OF NUBA, profiling the courageous and selfless efforts of Dr. Tom Catena.
Dr. Tom is the sole doctor for a million patients in the war-torn Nuba Mountains of Sudan. Dr. Tom won the 2017 $1.1 Million Aurora Prize and was also recognized as Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People. The film was recently awarded the Catholics in Media Associate’s Inaugural Social Justice Award.
Carlson has recently directed a series of live action short films for Feeln/SpiritClips owned by Hallmark. His latest effort, DINER FORMAL, was their most watched short of 2015.
On the non-fiction front, Carlson wrote, produced and directed GO TIGERS!, a feature length documentary which premiered in the Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival where it was picked-up for distribution by IFC Films.
The critically praised GO TIGERS! was released in 125 theaters domestically while enjoying an extensive release internationally. Among others, it was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and a Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary. It can currently be seen on Netflix and iTunes.
During the press junket for GO TIGERS!, Carlson managed to direct, produce and shoot NBC’s prime time, reality-based show, LOST. Blindfolded and ear-plugged, he was transported some 26 hours around the globe and dropped in Outer Mongolia with a goal of making it back to the Statue of Liberty.
Carlson’s team of contestants completed the adventure in 18 days. LOST generated strong ratings for the network. Shortly thereafter, he produced and directed several segments of the reality-based show, MEET MISTER MOM, for Full Circle Entertainment and Reveille Productions that showcased during prime time on NBC.
In addition, Carlson produced AMARGOSA, an Emmy Award winning and Academy Award Finalist documentary featuring Marta Becket and her opera house located in remote Death Valley Junction, California.
Carlson produced the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary WILD BILL: HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK, based on the life and times of legendary studio director William A. Wellman.
For Carlson’s independent film company, Carlson Films, he produced STEPPIN’ for Dreamworks about the contemporary dance phenomenon widely known as Soul Steppin’. Carlson also directed, produced and wrote the feature film SPECIAL DELIVERY, a romantic comedy.
For more than six years, Carlson directed, produced and wrote over 275 feature segments for AMERICA’S MOST WANTED, which aired for 23 seasons on The Fox Network. His efforts have resulted in the capture and incarceration of more than sixty-five of the country’s most wanted criminals.
Carlson has produced a plethora of award-winning commercials, music videos and short films. His love for photography has taken him to the far reaches of the globe, and his images have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, and National Geographic travel catalogs. He resides in Santa Monica with his wife, Katrina Carlson, and their three adventurous children.
