‘Armed Only With a Camera: Life & Death of Brent Renaud’ Doc Trailer
by Alex Billington
October 6, 2025
Source: YouTube
“The way you hold that camera, you’re doing it from your heart.” HBO Max has revealed the official trailer for a documentary film titled Armed Only With a Camera: Life & Death of Brent Renaud, made by his brother Craig Renaud. This first premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year – where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. It’ll be streaming on HBO Max later this October. Armed Only With a Camera is a powerful tribute to a war photojournalist who risked everything on the front lines. On March 13th, 2022, doc filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed by Russian soldiers – the first American journalist to die while reporting on the war in Ukraine. His younger brother & collaborator, Craig Renaud, recovered Brent’s body and his final recordings from Ukraine and brought them back home to Arkansas. As Brent’s journey to his final resting place unfolds, the doc film chronicles the years he and his brother spent covering some of the world’s most dangerous conflicts as photojournalists. Brent’s journey home also serves as a window into what drove him as a journalist, and how he viewed the world through his lens. This film is dedicated to Brent and all journalists who use cameras to fight for peace. They’re more important than ever.
Trailer for Renaud’s doc Armed Only With a Camera: Life & Death of Brent Renaud, via YouTube:
The vérité film includes harrowing footage of the brothers’ reporting from around the globe, including time embedded with the Arkansas National Guard in Iraq, the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the war in Somalia, immigrants’ journeying from Honduras to the United States, and Brent’s reportage upon arriving in Ukraine. Despite bearing witness to devastating loss & suffering, he fearlessly covered stories from the front lines, while empathically capturing the impact on innocent people. Unflinching in its depiction of death, loss, and the toll of war, the film is Brent’s ultimate testament to the critical value of wartime reporting & tribute to journalists providing on-the-ground, life-threatening coverage of world events. As journalism is becoming one of the most dangerous professions, Armed Only With a Camera is dedicated to Brent & all devoted journalists who use their cameras to work for truth & understanding.
Armed Only With a Camera: Life & Death of Brent Renaud is directed by the brothers Craig Renaud & Brent Renaud (posthumously) as a “Renaud Brothers Film”. They’re also co-directors of the films Warrior Champions, Shelter, Meth Storm, and other TV series and many doc projects previously. Produced by Juan Arredondo, Craig Renaud & Brent Renaud; in association with DCTV. This initially premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year. HBO Docs will release Armed Only With a Camera: Life & Death of Brent Renaud streaming on HBO Max starting on October 21st, 2025 this fall. Anyone want to watch it?