It’s a journalist’s function to remain behind the scenes. However typically, a reporter’s extraordinary life turns into the story itself.Such is the case with Brent Renaud, an award-winning documentary film-maker who was the primary American journalist killed, on the age of fifty, within the Russia-Ukraine battle. His life and demise are captured in a brand new, intimate documentary that debuted in Los Angeles on the twenty first annual HollyShorts movie pageant earlier this month.The movie, entitled Armed Solely With a Digital camera, is directed by Craig Renaud, Brent’s youthful brother, who labored alongside him for greater than 20 years, and produced by the photojournalist Juan Arredondo, who was there on the day Brent died. It explores Brent’s time as a journalist and documentarian reporting worldwide from locations such because the US-Mexico border, Haiti and Ukraine, relying closely on the footage Brent filmed throughout their travels. The brothers’ work has gained a mess of awards together with an Emmy, a Peabody, two duPont–Columbia awards, two Abroad Press Membership awards, an Worldwide Documentary Affiliation (IDA) award, a Webby and an Edward R Murrow award.After getting down to comply with a household in Ukraine for an unbiased movie the brothers had been producing, Brent and Arredondo had been gunned down by Russian troopers on 13 March 2022. Arredondo was closely wounded; Brent was shot within the neck and didn’t survive. “In keeping with the driving force, [the ambush] wasn’t greater than 5 minutes,” stated Arredondo. “However for me, it simply felt an eternity.”The movie captures harrowing scenes from that day, filmed by Brent in his final moments. The occasions following the assault had been filmed by Craig and Christof Putzel, a producer of the movie and trusted colleague who labored alongside the Renaud brothers in lots of battle zones over time. Arredondo, regardless of his accidents, was decided to present an correct account of what occurred to his buddy.“The bullet got here by, entered the physique, and at that time, I began fainting, as a result of I used to be profusely shedding blood. I stored telling folks: ‘The place’s my buddy? He’s again. Please go get him,”’ Arredondo stated. “And once I lastly got here to my senses, the very first thing was I wanted to name Craig. I made a objective in my thoughts to be as correct as doable, as a result of I wasn’t positive if I used to be going to outlive.”A show, together with a picture of Brent Renaud, throughout a protest towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Lafayette Park close to the White Home in Washington on 13 March 2022. {Photograph}: Alex Brandon/APCraig left the USA shortly after to retrieve Brent’s physique and his last recordings from Ukraine, and convey them to his house city in Arkansas. “I keep in mind packing to depart for Ukraine frantically,” he stated. “And I keep in mind trying over at my digital camera. I may hear Brent so clearly: ‘In fact you’re taking your digital camera.’”Craig wished to ensure he captured his brother’s story in its entirety. Brent’s life work is showcased all through the documentary, together with clips that usually seize the tales of civilians caught within the crossfire. Archival footage of Brent and his household as he grew up give the viewers a glimpse into who he was in entrance of the digital camera, not simply behind it.The choice to show Brent’s story right into a documentary was a straightforward one for Craig, he stated: “We spent our whole profession, over 20 years, documenting different folks caught in these wars. Why would it not be any totally different when it’s my member of the family or my brother being killed? It was an instinctual factor.”Along with Brent’s story, the movie highlights the rising dangers that journalists face all over the world throughout what the Committee to Shield Journalists (CPJ) has known as the deadliest time to inform the reality. The committee has reported that 15 different journalists died within the Russia-Ukraine battle from 2022 to 2023. CPJ has additionally reported that at the least 124 journalists had been killed in 2024 – nearly all of them in Gaza – surpassing the earlier file of 113 journalists killed in 2007, when nearly 50% of casualties had been attributed to the Iraq battle.Brent’s dedication to the craft of journalism continued till his last breath, stated Craig: “When Brent died, I used to be at peace along with his demise instantly. There was no a part of me that felt like this isn’t how Brent was purported to die. You recognize, he was probably the most devoted journalist I’ve ever identified. That being the top to Brent is poetic.”Craig and his household have began the Brent Renaud Basis, which goals to proceed Brent’s legacy by mentoring youth on the humanities of storytelling and cinema, in addition to coaching the subsequent technology of journalists for the tough work that lies forward of them. “With out journalism, there isn’t any democracy. I hope folks, after they see this movie, actually take into consideration the place we’re as a nation and on this planet with journalism,” stated Craig.
Armed Solely With a Digital camera: The Life and Loss of life of Brent Renaud has simply acquired the Viewers award at SXSW and can be accessible to stream on HBO on 21 October 2025
This text was amended on 29 August 2025 to mirror that Brent Renaud was 50, not 51, when he died.
