‘Love+War’ Doc Follows Acclaimed Photographer Lynsey Addario to War
Award-winning photographer Lynsey Addario is the subject of a new National Geographic documentary, Love+War, scheduled to make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) early next month.
Addario is one of the world’s most acclaimed photojournalists and best known for her daring and powerful documentary photography work that investigates global conflict, humanitarian issues, and women’s rights topics worldwide. Addario has done award-winning work for The New York Times and National Geographic, and most recently has captured remarkable photos during the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Addario was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for her powerful and emotional photo essay that focuses on a very young Ukrainian child whose treatment for a rare eye cancer was devastatingly delayed because Russia invaded Ukraine. Addario was also a finalist in 2023 for her work in Ukraine. Addario won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize as part of a New York Times team’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan.
As reported by Digital Camera World, the new Love+War documentary, created by award-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, follows Addario as she documents the war in Ukraine. Throughout the feature-length documentary, Addario reflects upon her broader career, which dates back over 20 years.
“People have a tendency to move on,” Addario says. “It’s my job to get people to continue paying attention.”
The documentary follows Addario across several trips to Ukraine in the past few years, and relates her current experiences there to her two decades of work photographing war elsewhere, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, and Libya, where Addario was kidnapped alongside three NYT colleagues in 2011.
The film explores powerful questions, like how Addario has been able to work in war zones for so long without being entirely broken, what it’s like juggling her photojournalistic work against having a family of her own back home, and what motivates her to continue doing vital work even when it’s exceptionally challenging and dangerous.
Love+War turns the lens on Addario, who herself has used her camera to change the global perception of war and shine a light on many grave injustices. The documentary will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sunday, September 7, and will have additional showings on September 8 and 13. Complete showtime and ticketing information is available on TIFF’s website.
