Armed Only with a Camera is directed by Brent’s brother and collaborator, Craig, and produced by Juan Arredondo, who was also shot during the ambush that killed Brent
It’s a journalist’s role to stay behind the scenes. But sometimes, a reporter’s extraordinary life becomes the story itself.
Such is the case with Brent Renaud, an award-winning documentary film-maker who was the first American journalist killed, at the age of 51, in the Russia-Ukraine war. His life and death are captured in a new, intimate documentary that debuted in Los Angeles at the 21st annual HollyShorts film festival earlier this month.
The film, entitled Armed Only With a Camera, is directed by Craig Renaud, Brent’s younger brother, who worked alongside him for more 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 places such as the US-Mexico border, Haiti and Ukraine, relying heavily on the footage Brent filmed during their travels. The brothers’ work has won a multitude of awards including an Emmy, a Peabody, two duPont–Columbia awards, two Overseas Press Club awards, an International Documentary Association (IDA) award, a Webby and an Edward R Murrow award.
