A documentary about an SMU alumnus who was killed while covering the war in Ukraine in 2022 is nominated for an Oscar.
Journalist Brent Renaud, who graduated from SMU in 1994 with a major in English and a minor in sociology, was remembered at the time as a “kind” and “compassionate” alumnus who mentored at-risk children in Dallas. With his brother, Craig, Brent went on to win multiple awards for his journalism.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the Little Rock, Arkansas-native was fatally shot March 13 in Irpin, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Renaud had worked for numerous media organizations. At the time of his death, though, he was working on a TIME Studios project “focused on the global refugee crisis,” TIME executives confirmed.
The 2025 documentary, Armed Only With A Camera: The Life And Death of Brent Renaud, is nominated in the Documentary Short Film category. The 98th-Annual Academy Awards will air at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 15, on ABC.
The documentary is described as an “intimate portrait of documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud, the first American journalist killed while covering the war in Ukraine.”
For a full listing of this year’s Oscar’s nominees with North Texas connections, read this list at our sister publication D Magazine.