A documentary, which premiered at Sundance on Saturday night, has controversially disputed the ownership of one the most famous news photographs ever taken – challenging 50 years of accepted history.
The Stringer, directed by Bao Nguyen, features a group of journalists and investigators claiming that the photograph – known colloquially as ‘Napalm Girl’ – was not taken by Nick Ut, the Associated Press (AP) staff photographer long credited for the image.
The photograph, taken in 1972 outside the village of Trảng Bàng during the Vietnam War, is officially called The Terror of War, and depicts 9-year-old girl Phan Thị Kim Phúc running naked on a road after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese napalm attack.
Many credit the image with truly changing global views of the conflict by giving the innocent victims of the war a face, and prompting the end of the violence.
"Then when she passed my camera, I saw her body burned so badly. I said, 'Oh my God, I don't want no more picture,'" Ut recalled in an interview in 2012 with ABC7's David Ono. In 2022 both Kim Phúc and Ut, whom she affectionately calls ‘uncle’, presented the Pope with a copy of the image.
The AP and Ut have long claimed that Ut, then 21, took the photo that earned him a Pulitzer Prize and defined his career until his retirement from the AP in 2017.
However, The Stringer claims that the historic image was taken by another photographer on the ground that day – Nguyen Thành Nghe. Nghe was a Vietnamese driver for NBC who sold his photographs to the AP as a freelancer, or "stringer".
The claim originates from Carl Robinson, a former AP photo editor in Saigon, who alleges that Horst Faas, who was the bureau's chief of photography at the time, ordered him to change the credit and "make it Nick Ut," before sending it out to the world.
In the documentary, Robinson claims that the guilt over the misattribution has haunted for years, and felt compelled at the age of 80 to find the discredited photographer, reaching out to the documentary’s lead investigator and narrator Gary Knight in 2010.
Speaking at a Q&A following the film’s premiere in Park City, Utah, Robinson said, "I didn't want to die before this story came out. I wanted to find him and say sorry."
The documentary suggests that Haas intentionally miscredited the image because Ut was the only AP staff photographer on the ground that day, or due to guilt for sending Ut's brother to his death on a combat assignment for the AP in 1965.
The AP refused to partake in the film and maintains that Ut is the man who took the photo, releasing a statement saying: "We were surprised and disappointed that the film portrayed AP as having reviewed the film's materials and being dismissive of the allegations, which is completely false.
"The AP stands ready to review any and all evidence and new information about this photo. To do so, the film-makers would have to lift the restriction they placed on all their contributors who signed non-disclosure agreements. We cannot state more clearly that The Associated Press is only interested in the facts and a truthful history of this iconic photo."
James Horstein – attorney for Ut – also provided a statement from Kim Phúc that said: “I have refused to participate in this outrageous and false attack on Nick Ut raised by Mr Robinson over the past years … I would never participate in the Gary Knight film because I know it is false."
Nguyen appeared at the premier, speaking through a translator to say that the film invites audiences to consider "uncomfortable truths," adding "when there are questions about our own profession, we need to examine ourselves. We're all stronger if we examine ourselves, ask tough questions and are more open and honest about what goes on in our profession."
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