Film about American journalist Brent Renaud killed in Ukraine on Oscar shortlist

The Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud documentary has been shortlisted for the Oscars in the Best Documentary Short Film category. The film tells the story of American journalist and documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud, who was killed while covering russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

The film was created by the journalist’s brother, director Craig Renaud, and photojournalist Juan Arredondo. The film uses archival materials from the Renaud brothers’ many years of work in various hot spots around the world — from the Middle East to Latin America. The authors combined this footage with the story of Brent Renaud’s last trip to Ukraine to show his journey as a documentary filmmaker, who spent years telling about the lives of people in conflict zones and humanitarian crises.

Brent Renaud was killed on March 13, 2022, in Irpin, Kyiv Region, while filming with colleagues about the evacuation of civilians from combat zones in the first weeks of the russian invasion. The journalists’ car came under fire from russian military personnel. His death was one of the first casualties among foreign media workers who came to Ukraine to document the war.

According to verified data from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the International Federation of Journalists, 145 media workers have died since the start of the full-scale invasion. Among them are 21 media men and women who were performing professional duties. Among the dead are foreign journalists working in Ukraine, including Irish cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, and photojournalist Antoni Lallican, Briton Ryan Evans.

The 98^th Academy Awards will be held on March 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. The awards, presented by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will honor the best films of 2025 in 24 categories.

The shortlisting of the Brent Renaud film is another reminder to an international audience of the risks faced by journalists covering the war in Ukraine.

NUJU Information Service