April 20, 2011 will marked the darkest day in the documentary movie industry. Tim Hetherington, a British photojournalist who shot into fame for his documentary film Restrepo was died from a mortar attack while covering the front lines in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya. He is 41.
According to the source from NY Magazine, "photographer André Liohn, who is currently in Libya, confirmed the death of Hetherington and Pulitzer Prize–nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros on his Facebook account (Liohn has since deleted this message while some reports on Hondros have him severely injured), adding "when they arrived [at the hospital] no one even had their names. I hope that with this post their families can get notified."
Both photojournalist have frequently contributed to vanity Fair and a condolence statement from the magazine has been published via their Twitter:
"All of us at Vanity Fair mourn the deaths of our own Tim Hetherington and fellow photojournalist Chris Hondros in Libya."
Hetherington shot to fame when his war documentary with collaboration from fellow Vanity Fair contributor Sebastien Junger, Restrepo was an acclaimed hit in 2010 Sundance and went on to garner an Oscar nomination for best documentary at this year's Academy awards. The project saw the pair spending 10 months embedded with a battalion of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan’s dangerous Korengal Valley region.
R.I.P. Tim Hetherington (1970 - 2011). My deepest condolences to the family of late Tim Hetherington.
