A new documentary feature, titled The Stringer, which premiered Saturday at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, calls into question the real history behind the famous 1972 photograph “Napalm Girl.” The photograph, taken during the Vietnam War, shows nine-year-old Kim Phuc running away from a napalm attack, her skin burning from the chemicals. The retired Associated Press photographer, Nick Ut, received the Pulitzer Prize for the picture.

Now, the new film claims that Nick Ut was in fact not the photographer, but rather Nguyen Than Nghe, a young Vietnamese photographer. He was reportedly paid $20 for the photo and the credit was eventually given to Ut. This comes from Carl Robinson, a former AP photo editor in Vietnam, who went on the record in 2012 that the photo was in fact taken by a stringer and not Nick Ut. He did not know who this supposed stringer was, but this testimony acted as the catalyst for this documentary.

In an interview with The Hollywood reporter, photojournalist Gary Knight, who was partially responsible for this documentary, said that “This is a story about the power imbalance in journalism. There was an imbalance during the war in Vietnam that tilted toward white heterosexual men, and it continues today.” He also said “The most vulnerable journalists in the world are local freelancers. And it’s important if we’re going to hold political and religious and civic leaders to account that we embrace scrutiny and ask about our own conduct as well.”

Nick Ut’s legal team reportedly sent cease-and-desist letters to the filmmakers of The Stringer as well as to the Sundance Film Festival. The film premiered anyway on Saturday at the festival. However, the film has yet to gain a distributor, so the future of the film is uncertain.