Documentary Highlights Brave Women Photographers Who Cover Warzones

No Ordinary Life is a film that explores the work of women photojournalists who put themselves in perilous situations to document conflict.

The CNN documentary will premiere on September 5 and focuses on trailblazing female camera operators who covered huge events such as Tiananmen Square, the Arab Spring, Sarajevo, and South Africa.

Directed by journalist and documentary filmmaker Heather O’Neill, the film aims to shine a light on women who captured iconic news footage when the world may have assumed that it was men recording.

“I wanted to make a film that allowed the audience to be immersed in the experience of being behind the camera through the photographer’s point of view,” says O’Neill.

“The sounds, the signs, the split-second decisions, and the sense of what unfolds for the camerawomen.”

no ordinary life poster

The film focuses on Jane Evans, Maria Fleet, Margaret Moth, Mary Rogers, and Cynde Strand who “broke news, bucked stereotypes, and built an enduring sisterhood.”

The exciting trailer for the movie opens with a terrifying scene, showing every war photographer’s worst nightmare as one of the camerawomen is apparently left behind in a hostile environment.

Another clip, taken in Sub-Saharan Africa, shows a solder gesticulating toward the camera saying “stay, stay, don’t worry,” as gunfire rings out around them.

“The guys with the AK47s pulled up right next to us and just started firing into our car. I just remember thinking, this is how it ends,” says one ominous voiceover.

No Ordinary Life explores the trailblazing work of female news videographers on the front lines of war, who captures some of the most vivid images of conflict and revolution across the globe only after overcoming hurdles owing to gender discrimination,” writes David Morgan from CBS News.

“The five CNN veterans open up about the adrenaline and hazards of reporting under fire and about their ‘band of sisters’ ties, as well as the tremendous cost to their personal lives of living from war zone to war zone.

“With white-knuckle behind-the-scenes footage of the women at work, No Ordinary Life shows what talented camera people can achieve, with valor, humor, and humanity — a testament to the value of meritocracy without bias.”

No Ordinary Life, a Film About Women Photojournalists will premiere of CNN on Monday September 5 at 10:00 Eastern Time.

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