On Thursday night, the short film, "Hope from Alaska," will take viewers into the world of Dr. Jill Seaman as she works to ease suffering and save lives in the remote and impoverished village of Old Fangak in southern Sudan. Seaman, who also works part of the year in Bethel as a contract physician for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp., received a MacArthur "Genius Award" in September for her work in Old Fangak, where she fights malaria, leprosy, meningitis, HIV and other deadly diseases out of an abandoned building with dirt floors, no electricity and no running water.

The film is being shown as a fundraiser for the Alaska Sudan Medical Project, which supports Seaman's work through its commitment to building a new medical clinic, digging wells and building latrines. The project was founded after Dr. Jack Hickel and nurse Lori Gibbons visited Seaman in Old Fangak in November 2007, and found the situation there more desperate than they could have imagined.

Thursday's fundraiser is at the Alaska Wild Berry Theatre, 5225 Juneau St., off East International Airport Road. The film will be shown at 7 and 8:15 p.m. Project volunteers who just returned from Old Fangak will give an update on Seaman and the project's efforts to bring hope to that part of the world.

A donation of $10 is suggested.

For more information about the project, go to www.alaskasudan.org.