By STEVE MARTINDALE
SS Film Festival Society
The visually arresting, adrenaline-pumping film Love+War — which is widely expected to be nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar — screens at ArtSpring on Wednesday, Dec. 3 as part of the Salt Spring Film Festival’s popular Best of the Fests series, co-presented by the Salt Spring Photography Club and the Salt Spring Friends of Ukraine Committee.
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaking couple Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, this deeply engaging National Geographic production profiles a courageous photojournalist at the dangerous pinnacle of her storied career.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Lynsey Addario struggles to maintain some semblance of family normalcy in London while repeatedly risking her life on the frontlines — including in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Libya, Haiti, Sudan and Gaza — with a particular focus on how women around the world are affected by war, disaster, political conflict and oppressive regimes.
Heart-stopping scenes and astonishing front-page photos are the highlights of this immersive cinematic experience, featuring moving accounts of the profound impact of Addario’s work to improve the lives of millions of impoverished women, a deep dive into what drives war reporters to put themselves in mortal danger in order to shine a light on injustice, and an unflinching examination of how women are judged far more harshly than men for prioritizing their careers over their families.
Having been kidnapped twice in war zones — a risk she faces each time she leaves her husband and two sons to go on assignment — Addario is torn between her unwavering commitment to the essential work of journalism and the competing demands of motherhood, grappling with what it truly means to follow your calling when it threatens everything you love.
The Best of the Fests series continues in the New Year with Vancouver filmmaker Jereme Watt’s award-winning documentary Everest Dark on Jan. 21, co-presented by Salt Spring Search & Rescue, profiling Nepalese national hero Mingma Tsiri Sherpa — following sherpas into the Death Zone, risking their lives to retrieve one frozen body at a time in order to sanctify the world’s highest mountain.