The Terror of War, also known as Napalm Girl | Associated Press
Photographer Nick Ut was honored last night at Visa pour l’Image, the International Festival of Photojournalism, in France. The honor came just days after the news broke that Netflix acquired The Stringer, the explosive documentary that alleges Ut did not capture “The Terror of War,” one of the most famous photos in history. Ut received a lengthy ovation and further defended himself against the documentary’s allegations.
In his speech honoring Ut, Visa pour l’Image Director General Jean-François Leroy, stood by Ut.
“Here at Visa pour l’Image, we are many different things: corny, classical, orthodox, grouchy, dramatic, and so on. Our critics are never short of vocabulary when it comes to describing us. But we are also fiercely determined to defend this profession that we love and was so greatly loved by Roger Thérond who helped me found the festival,” Leroy said.
“It is because this is what Roger would have done, because it is fair and just to do so in the absence of incontrovertible evidence, and because it is the raison-d’être of the festival, that I wish to make the message loud and clear this evening: Visa pour l’Image and Perpignan are standing by Nick Ut and all the photojournalists who risked their lives to report on the Vietnam War.”
The complete speech is available to read on Facebook and below.
When The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo premiered at Sundance in January, it sent shockwaves through the photography industry. The documentary, directed by Bao Nguyen and produced by VII Foundation, claims that local stringer Nguyễn Thành Nghệ took the famed “The Terror of War” photograph, commonly known as “Napalm Girl,” not Nick Ut.
A still from The Stringer | VII Foundation
The Associated Press photo was disseminated globally and altered the public perception of the Vietnam War, particularly in the West. Ut won the Pulitzer Prize for the photo, arguably one of the most famous and influential war images ever captured.
The AP, for its part, initiated a lengthy investigation concerning the authorship of the iconic image. The detailed 97-page report ultimately concluded that Nick Ut may have taken the image and that there is not sufficient evidence to change the photo credit.
The two surviving frames of ‘Napalm Girl’ held by the AP.
In a separate investigation, World Press Photo came to a very different conclusion, and suspended Ut’s credit.
“The level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution,” World Press Photo executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury said in a statement in May. World Press Photo did not reassign the credit.
The Stringer director, Nguyen, described World Press Photo’s decision to strip Ut’s credit as “extraordinary.”
“Their findings conclude that, based on the available visual and technical evidence, Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, a long-overlooked Vietnamese stringer, appears more likely than Nick Út to have taken the photo,” Nguyen wrote in May.
“This renewed examination was prompted, in part, by the evidence presented in The Stringer, an investigative documentary I directed in close collaboration with a team of journalists and film crew, many of whom are Vietnamese. This recognition is deeply meaningful to all of us involved. But above all, it represents a critical first step in acknowledging the man we believe is the rightful photographer: Nguyễn Thành Nghệ. We hope the world will come to know and say his name,” the director continued.
Nguyen has maintained that The Stringer is not a movie about Nick Ut, but is instead an exploration of truth, memory, and “the quiet burden of a man who carried a secret for over fifty years.”
Hundreds of respected photojournalists rushed to Ut’s defense, both in January when the documentary initially premiered and especially following World Press Photo’s controversial choice to strip Ut’s credit.
It was around this time in May that Ut was officially invited to Visa pour l’Image.
“Because people are talking without having seen the [The Stringer]. Because Associated Press didn’t take away the credit. Because we don’t like the fact that this documentary was made after the disappearance of the main people involved, especially Horst Faas, to whom it would have been so easy to ask questions. Because we support him, we invite Nick to come to Perpignan,” Jean-François Leroy said in late May.
Nick Ut was honored at Visa pour l’Image yesterday, September 5, in France. Ut received a standing ovation from the reported 2,600 people in attendance. | Photo by Renée C Byer, shared by Nick Ut on Facebook
Clearly, Ut took Leroy up on the invitation. Coinciding with Ut’s appearance at the festival in Perpignan, France, Ut’s lawyers, James Holstein and Martin Pradel, released a statement which has been shared with PetaPixel. The statement is shared in full below, unedited, with emphasis preserved.
Following the announcement of Netflix’s acquisition of the documentary The Stringer, we feel compelled to respond to a narrative that challenges Nick Ut’s authorship of one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century — without conclusive evidence and at the expense of truth. In recent months, a film has sought to cast doubt on Nick Ut’s authorship of The Terror of War — the photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack on June 8, 1972.
This claim is false. Nick Ut took that photograph.
He was there, and he took Kim Phuc to safety after making the image. No one else has the right to claim his work.
The truth is, Nick Ut has remained largely silent throughout this period, even as a vindictive and self-serving campaign — disguised as journalism — has gained momentum. This effort appears to have been deliberately timed to coincide with his invitation to ‘Visa pour l’image’, adding further distress at a moment that should have been one of recognition and dignity.
He is deeply upset by what has been said about him, his career, his work, his honor and his integrity.
The Associated Press, after extensive investigation, has reaffirmed that there is no credible evidence to challenge his authorship. Many witnesses who stood beside him that day continue to support what has always been known: that he took the famous picture.
The attacks against him are painful, but they cannot erase the truth. That photograph, which earned Nick the Pulitzer Prize and helped change public opinion on the Vietnam War, belongs to history. Its power comes not from controversy, but from the innocent child it portrays and the suffering it exposed.
“Knowing that a company like Netflix will give such allegations a global stage is painful,” Nick Ut said.
But today, as he stands here in Perpignan, he chooses not to dwell on falsehoods but to celebrate the values that unite us as photojournalists. “We are guardians of memory. We risk our lives to ensure that truth is not forgotten”.
Nick Ut wants to dedicate this recognition to Kim Phuc, whose courage and humanity continue to inspire everyone. And he also dedicates it to all photojournalists who persist in telling the truth, no matter how difficult or dangerous.
Nick Ut remains committed to defending the truth — not only for himself, but for the values that define responsible journalism.
He will take all necessary steps and action — in Court if need be — to preserve his legacy and protect the integrity of his work.
PetaPixel has repeatedly requested a screener of the documentary since its initial premiere at Sundance and thus far has been denied. Netflix has not confirmed the documentary’s release date yet, although it is reportedly set to arrive on the streaming platform this year.
“No one else ever came forward claiming that my image was not mine, no one ever confronted me about my photo, and this is also the first time I heard the story that it was a stringer’s film. All film was labeled and marked with each person’s name at the office before developing, and matched by the label to the envelopes with the photographer’s names. Our system at the AP Saigon was fail-proof when it came to which negatives belonged to who,” Ut said on Facebook in February, shortly after he said he planned to file a defamation lawsuit against the producers of The Stringer.
“I took the photo of Kim Phuc, I took the other photos from that day that show her family and the devastation the war caused. No one else has the right to claim that I did not take that specific or any other photo attributed to me because I am the creator of all the work I’ve done since day one. My career spans more than 50 years and, although I am now retired from the AP, I continue to create impacting images for the world to see.”