Celebrity Death!
Qaddafi craze killed Oscar nominee Tim Hetherington, with his last words by Tweet haunting NATO in Libya?
[Apr. 20]
Tim Hetherington, who along with Sebastian Junger helped direct the Academy Award nominated documentary Restrepo (2009), a film covering one Platoon in one of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan, was killed April 20 in Libya, according to TMZ. Hetherington is a trained photojournalist from Liverpool and also is known for his camera work on Liberia: an Uncivil War (2004) and The Devil Came on Horseback (2007).
The green celebrity director and photojournalist was covering the conflict in Libya for the Panos photo agency when he came under attack from rocket propelled grenades, according to The last communication over Twitter from Tim Hetherington was on April 19. It read: “In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO.”
Tim Hetherington had worked for Vanity Fair magazine, doing much of his work in Afghanistan for the magazine. Vanity Fair reports that Hetherington seemed interested in working with friend and co-director Sebastian Junger on another project highlighting the fighting in Misrata, Libya.
From Vanity Fair:
In 2007, he won the coveted World Press Photo of the Year Award for his coverage of American soldiers in the Korengal Valley—one of four World Press prizes he received. Those assignments in Afghanistan served as the basis of the 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary ‘Restrepo,’ which he directed with Vanity Fair contributor (and his longtime journalistic collaborator) Sebastian Junger, author of ‘The Perfect Storm.’
In a statement covered by Vanity Fair, the family said, “Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict. He will be forever missed.” The green celebrity documentarian had received the Rory Peck Award for Features 2008, for his film, The Other War, shot in 2007 and commissioned by ABC. He also won the Overseas Press Club Award in 2008 and published Long Story Bit by Bit about his time in Liberia in 2009.
This is one green celebrity death that was simply needless and wrong. His haunting tweet is a message that will not soon be forgotten by fans, the Libyan people, and (we hope) NATO allied forces and commanders able to send tactical troops to the region.