The Stringer: ethics and truth in photojournalism

A former Saigon photo editor reveals a secret he’s been plagued with for over 50 years, setting off a gripping two-year investigation into the truth behind ‘Napalm Girl’, one of the Vietnam War’s most iconic photographs. Acclaimed war photographer Gary Knight and a small team of journalists embark on a relentless search to locate and seek justice for a man known only as “the stringer.”

In his latest feature documentary, The Stringer, Vietnamese American director Bao Nguyen (The Greatest Night in Pop, Be Water) takes audiences on a thrilling hunt for the truth. Along the way, the film grapples with questions of authorship, racial injustice, and journalistic ethics while shining a light on the vital yet often unrecognised contributions of freelance photographers in shaping the media landscape.

Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with Carl Robinson, a former AP photo editor during the Vietnam War.

Carl Robinson is a writer, editor, and traveller whose career was shaped by his work in South Vietnam with the Associated Press. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and raised in the Belgian Congo, he studied in Hong Kong before returning to Vietnam in the 1960s to work in development. After resigning during the Tet Offensive, Horst Faas invited him to join AP in 1968 as a caption writer, where he later became a full-time photo editor and contributing photographer, and reporter. Robinson’s experience informed publications including The Bite of the Lotus, a memoir of his Vietnam years, and guidebooks on Australia and Mongolia. With Kim-Dung, he led veteran-focused tours to Vietnam and contributed to the ‘Vietnam Old Hacks’ network. He is involved in professional and community groups in Australia, including the William Boot Society and HARS Aviation Museum’s media unit. Robinson is based in NSW, where he continues to write, lecture, and engage with the photography and journalism communities.