When a noted member of the film community dies after a long career, it’s always a sad occasion. But when one has his life cut short in his prime it’s particularly tragic. So it’s with a heavy heart that we report that Tim Hetherington, director of Restrepo and war photographer was killed in Libya on April 20th.
Born in 1970, he’d been active in covering war zones for years, travelling across the world from West Africa to Afghanistan in a bid to depict combat conditions as accurately as possible.
His most recent film, Restrepo, which he made with Vanity Fair journalist Sebastian Junger charted a year in the life of a platoon deployed to Afghanistan and won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes last year before being nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar.
“Tim was one of the bravest photographers and filmmakers I have ever met,” ABC News‘s Adam Goldson told The Hollywood Reporter, “”During his shooting for the Nightline specials he very seriously broke his leg on a night march out of a very isolated forward operating base that was under attack. He had the strength and character to walk for four hours through the night on his shattered ankle without complaint and under fire, enabling that whole team to reach safety.”
Pulitzer Prize-nominated Photographer Chris Hondos was also killed in the same attack and photographer Guy Martin (no relation to the Superbike rider) was also badly injured.
The day before he died, Hetherington tweeted “In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO”
