‘The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo’ Documentary from Bao Nguyen Heading to Netflix

Picture credit: The VII Foundation

Netflix will soon release The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo, the new documentary feature film from director Bao Nguyen with production partners XRM Media and collaboration and reporting from The VII Foundation. The film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025. 

Update (09/19): Per a request from Netflix, the release date we initially reported isn’t fully locked. We’ve removed until official confirmation. 

Dubbed as one of the “most reviewed films in the festival’s history,” the film tells the story of a former Saigon photo editor’s confession, which subsequently ignites a two-year investigation into the hidden history behind one of the Vietnam War’s most iconic images, The Terror of War (“Napalm Girl”). Acclaimed war photographer Gary Knight and journalists Fiona Turner, Terri Lichstein, and Lê Vân set out to uncover the truth and seek justice for a man known only as “the stringer,” whose role challenges the Associated Press credit long tied to the photo.

Bao Nguyen’s film weaves this pursuit with a broader examination of how Vietnamese photographers’ contributions were sidelined, raising urgent questions of racial injustice, journalistic ethics, and how images of war shaped global understanding and protest.

This marks the director’s second major Netflix Original documentary, following The Greatest Night in Pop, released in early 2024. That particular documentary, which was awarded with numerous wins and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations, detailed the historic night the song We Are The World was recorded. That similarly premiered at Sundance as did his 2020 documentary Be Water, which looked into the life of Bruce Lee. 

Deadline first announced the Netflix acquisition of the film back in early September.

In a statement on The VII Foundation website, they write:

“We are thrilled to announce that our documentary film, The Stringer, has been acquired by Netflix, the leading global streaming platform.

As a unique piece of reporting and documentary filmmaking The Stringer has taken us on a long and complicated journey, so it’s with delight and a lot of pride that we can now share with the world that Nguyễn Thành Nghệ’s story will soon be available for audiences around the world.

We believe his is an important narrative, not only for the one man who was erased from the history books, but for all stringers and freelance journalists, particularly in today’s turbulent and unforgiving world.”

The documentary has been subject to a fair bit of controversy post its Sundance release, given that the Associated Press continues to dispute the actual authorship and ownership of the photo. 

Photo by Ray Lavers / Netflix

Executive Producers: Gary Knight, Sue Turley, Grace Lay, Michael Y. Chow, Kevin Lin, Alex Cotraviwat, Andrew Reid, Nina Fialkow, David Fialkow, Jeff Zimbalist, Jermey Gardner, James Costa, and Trevor Burgess.

Other Crew: Graham Taylor (Editor), Andrew Yuyi Truong and Ray Lavers (Cinematographers), Tim Harrison (Sound Designer), Ava Romero (Associate Producer), Jenni Trang Lê (Line Producer), Tam Le (Colorist), and Gene Back (Composer).

Runtime: 100 mins

You can add The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo to your Netflix queue here.