Brent Anthony Renaud (October 2, 1971 – March 13, 2022) was an American journalist, documentary filmmaker, and photojournalist. Renaud worked with his brother Craig to produce films for outlets such as

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

and

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, and was a former contributor to ''

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''. According to Ukrainian officials, he was killed on March 13, 2022, by

Russian soldiers Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

while covering the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Irpin Irpin ( uk, Ірпі́нь, ) is a Hero City of Ukraine located on the Irpin River in Bucha Raion, Kyiv Oblast (province) right next to the city of Kyiv in northern Ukraine. Irpin hosts the administration of Irpin urban hromada, one of the hroma ...

city near

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Life and career

Renaud was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and raised in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

. His mother, Georgann Freasier, was a social worker, and his father, Louis Renaud, was a salesman. Renaud earned his bachelor's degree in English literature from

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

and a master's degree in sociology from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He lived and worked in Little Rock and New York City. In collaboration with his brother Craig, Brent Renaud produced a series of films and television programs, mostly focusing on humanistic stories from the world's hot spots. From 2004 to 2005, the Renaud brothers filmed the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

series ''Off to War,'' which covered Arkansas reservists in the

Iraqi conflict The Iraqi conflict is an armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led Multi-National Force – Iraq, coalition that toppled the Ba'athist Iraq, government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued as an insurge ...

and their families. The brothers also covered the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, the

2010 earthquake in Haiti A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capi ...

, the political crises in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

, conflicts in Africa, Mexican drug war, and the refugee crisis in Central America. They won several awards in television and journalism, including two DuPont-Columbia Awards and a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 2015 for their video series "Last Chance High." The brothers directed the documentary ''Meth Storm'', released in 2017 by

HBO Documentary Films Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

. In 2019, Renaud was appointed a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. Renaud was a 2019

Nieman Fellow The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. ...

. Together with his brother, he was a grantee of the

Pulitzer Center The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an American news media organization established in 2006 that sponsors independent reporting on global issues that other media outlets are less willing or able to undertake on their own. The center's goal ...

. They also founded the

Little Rock Film Festival The Little Rock Film Festival (LRFF) is an annual film festival held in Downtown Little Rock, Arkansas each spring. Based in the historic River Market District, home to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library, the Little Rock Film Fes ...

. Co-producer for the documentary series Life of Crime:1984-2020, which was also nominated for a

in 2021.

Death

According to Ukrainian officials, Renaud was shot and killed by

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast ( uk, Ки́ївська о́бласть, translit=Kyïvska oblast), also called Kyivshchyna ( uk, Ки́ївщина), is an oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, w ...

, Ukraine, while covering the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. Two other journalists were injured and taken to a hospital. One of them, , later said in a video published by an Italian journalist on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that the journalists were filming civilians evacuating over one of the bridges in Irpin when they were targeted by soldiers who shot Renaud in the neck. It was the first reported death of a foreign journalist in the 2022 war in Ukraine.

Filmography

* '' Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing'', 2009

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Brent and Craig Renaud * ''Off to War'' (series) (2004) * ''Dope Sick Love'' (2005) documentary film; directed by Felicia Conte, Brent Renaud, and Craig Renaud * ''Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later'' (2007) documentary film * ''Last Chance High'' (2015; series) * ''Meth Storm'' (2017)
''Shelter''
(2018) documentary film

References

External links

* *
Brent Renaud's Appearances
on

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

Brent Renaud, First U.S. Journalist Killed in Ukraine War, Honored at New NYC Documentary Cinema

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renaud, Brent 1971 births 2022 deaths American male journalists Assassinated American journalists American photojournalists 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers American documentary film directors Journalists from Arkansas Journalists from Tennessee Writers from Nashville, Tennessee Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas Nieman Fellows Peabody Award winners University of Arkansas faculty Southern Methodist University alumni Columbia University alumni Journalists killed while covering the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Civilians killed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Deaths by firearm in Ukraine