This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
We end today’s show remembering the acclaimed filmmaker Brent Renaud. Four years ago this month, he became the first Western journalist killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. He traveled to Ukraine to film refugees for a documentary series. The Peabody Award-winning filmmaker was 50 years old.
Brent was a longtime filmmaker who had reported across the globe, including in Colombia and Mexico, Egypt, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, Haiti, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, much of his work done with his brother and filmmaking partner Craig Renaud. Craig’s been nominated for an Oscar for his short documentary about Brent called Armed Only with a Camera. This is the film’s trailer.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined by the Renaud brothers, Arkansas filmmakers.
CRAIG RENAUD: Brent, let’s go.
BRENT RENAUD: OK.
CRAIG RENAUD: Let’s go. Let’s get out of here.
When Brent told me that he wanted to be a documentary filmmaker, I followed my older brother to the most dangerous places in the world.
BRENT RENAUD: They’re locking in on us.
ANNA BOTTING: We’ve just got some breaking news: Brent Renaud, an American photojournalist, has been killed.
ANDERSON COOPER: Brent lost his life documenting the horrors on the battlefield in Ukraine.
JOHN KIRBY: The work that he was doing, the bravery with which he did it.
BRENT RENAUD: My name is Brent Renaud. This is my brother Craig. Besides my brother, I struggle to make friends. Autism tells you very little about a person. I can be calm as a Zen monk in a disaster zone.
Soldiers over there.
But the cocktail party in Brooklyn is absolutely terrifying.
CRAIG RENAUD: Brent was very intense and quiet.
UNIDENTIFIED: Can you put the camera down?
BRENT RENAUD: Yeah.
CRAIG RENAUD: He filmed on the frontline of conflicts —
SOLDIER: Aim. Fire!
CRAIG RENAUD: — all around the world. But what he cared about the most were the people caught in the middle.
BRENT RENAUD: Describe what you’re seeing.
UNIDENTIFIED: [translated] There are no terrorists here, only civilians.
SOMALI PATIENT: What is your name?
BRENT RENAUD: My name is Brent.
SOMALI PATIENT: The way you hold that camera, what you’re doing is from your heart.
AMY GOODMAN: The trailer for the Oscar-nominated short documentary Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, directed by Brent’s brother Craig. Craig joins us now from Austin, Texas.
Craig, welcome back to Democracy Now! As we end our show on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fourth anniversary, next week, of the killing of your brother, of Brent, in Ukraine, can you talk about this period of time? You went to Ukraine to retrieve your brother’s body. Hundreds of journalists have been killed around the world since then. This documentary is not only about Brent and his incredible life and work, but, really, at the end, a dedication to so many journalists who have lost their lives.
CRAIG RENAUD: Yeah, when we first started making this film, we thought it was going to be a tribute to my brother. But it seemed like every single day that we were editing this film, another journalist would be killed, and so we felt like it had to be a bigger story about all the journalists who were being killed. Since my brother was killed, there’s been over 400 journalists killed around the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. So, you know, we wanted this to honor all those fallen journalists.
AMY GOODMAN: To say the least, a bittersweet time. I mean, you did a film about the death of your brother. How hard was it for you to get into Ukraine to retrieve Brent’s body? And Juan Arredondo, who was working with him, was also shot. He almost lost his life. You had to get Juan out, as well. Who helped you?
CRAIG RENAUD: It was journalists. It was Ukrainian journalists that helped us. They met me at the border. And we spent about a week and a half trying to navigate how to get Brent’s body out of Ukraine, and also how to get Juan out of the hospital that was being bombed. And without the Ukrainian journalists, I don’t think that would have been possible to bring my brother’s body home to our family.
AMY GOODMAN: You and your brother, you and Brent, reported on the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. You embedded with the Arkansas National Guard. As you are here now, we are now in the midst of another attack, U.S. and Israel attacking Iran. It is the sixth day. You have the secretary of defense castigating journalists for covering the deaths of U.S. service people, because, he says, they’re trying to make the president look bad. Your thoughts?
CRAIG RENAUD: I mean, it’s one of the reasons in the film about my brother that I chose to show him after he was murdered. I chose to show him in a casket, you know, because I know that Brent believed, and I always believed, that people need to see the results and impact of the horrors of war when these wars start. So, for us as journalists, it’s not something that we ever shied away from. And even when my own brother was killed, my family, my mother included, felt like it was important to show Brent’s body.
AMY GOODMAN: The film is dedicated to Brent Renaud and the many journalists who, quote, “gave their lives in pursuit of truth and peace,” and ends with a scene of a memoriam with attendees holding up the photographs of journalists killed globally. This is the Ukrainian journalist Mykola Davydiuk.
MYKOLA DAVYDIUK: [translated] Soldiers target journalists like Brent Renaud. Long live these heroes who gave their lives.
ON-SCREEN TEXT: Since Brent’s death, more than 100 journalists have been killed every year. Journalism has become one of the world’s most dangerous professions.
AMY GOODMAN: That, a clip from the end of the film Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud. Your final thoughts, Craig? As we move into this moment, there are, what, 11,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture who will be voting on short and long documentaries, all the different films. This terrible, really, moment for you, but also trying to redeem it somehow. Your final thoughts?
CRAIG RENAUD: I just hope that this film draws attention to the work that my brother did. You know, Brent cared about people caught in the middle of these conflicts around the world. And, you know, as we enter another war, I think about all the civilians that are going to be hurt and impacted. I think about the soldiers that are going to be killed, and their families. And I hope Brent’s work and the work of all the fallen journalists helps people pause for a minute and think about the impact that these wars will have.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you for being with us, Craig Renaud, director and producer of Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, about his brother Brent, killed four years ago this month in Ukraine. The film has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short. Voting for the Oscars by members of the Academy ends tonight.
That does it for our show. To see the full interviews we’ve done over the years with Craig, with Brent, with all the Oscar-nominated filmmakers, you can go to democracynow.org.
On Saturday, I’ll be in Savannah, Georgia, at the Hindsight Film Festival for a screening of the award-winning documentary Steal This Story, Please!, about the 30 years of Democracy Now! I look forward to seeing folks in Savannah, Georgia, on Saturday night at 7:00. Check our website at democracynow.org for details.
That does it for our show. Democracy Now! produced with Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rhodes, María Taracena, Nicole Salazar, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Safwat Nazzal. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Carl Marxer, Denis Moynihan, David Prude. I’m Amy Goodman.
