POINT MEDIAS, LE {LE POINT} {OLIVIERO TOSCANI, THE
LITTLE GIRL WITH NAPALM} {CANADIAN FRENCH} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of news-magazine programs devoted to
the media. The theme of this week's edition is the
power of the photograph, and anchor Madeleine Poulin
introduces examinations of the works of two very
different photographers -- Italian Oliviero Toscani,
whose striking, non-fashion images have raised
controversy in advertisements for Benetton clothing, and
American Nick Ut, whose Pulitzer-Prize winning
photograph of a running little girl who was hit by
Napalm is one of the most gripping images of the
Vietnam War. Reporter Francine Bastien begins with an
interview of Toscani, who is shown as well addressing a
conference of advertising executives. Over stills of
his Benetton advertisements, many of which feature
images of blacks and whites together, Toscani explains
that he is not in business to sell things; that is for
the marketers. Rather, he says, he is interested in
creating striking, enduring images. He and Bastien
discuss the shock value of his ads, which have led to
their censorship in many countries. The photographer
states that it is not the images themselves that are
shocking, suggesting that more shocking images confront
the public every day in print and on television. Their
shock value comes in their use in advertising, he
maintains. Bruno Boutot, the editor in chief of the
Revue Info Presse, praises Toscani's work, saying that
all great advertisements hook into something humans
value but that this photographer's ads go further and
make people question their values. Bastien concludes by
predicting that Toscani has not finished stirring up
controversy. In the second segment of the program,
Madeleine Poulin sits beneath the famous image from
1972 of Phan Thi, a 9-year-old girl, fleeing
after napalm burned her clothing off. She introduces an
interview with Nick Ut, an Associated Press
photographer now living in California, who took the
picture. Over accompanying video and still footage, he
recalls the day in 1972 on which he met and
photographed the little girl. Sent by his editor to a
village about twenty-five miles from Saigon, he says, he
encountered villagers fleeing and then saw two South
Vietnamese planes drop their loads. Suddenly, it was
very hot, he remembers, and he saw (and photographed) a
grandmother carrying her dying grandchild, plus several
running children -- one of whom was the little girl,
whose clothes had burned off. As he took the
photographs, he heard the child's father asking for
help, he says, and he put down his camera in order to
rush her to a hospital. The following morning, he tells
the interviewer, his editor told him that his photograph
had gone all the way around the world. Next, Poulin
introduces excerpts from a 1995 CBC interview by Hana
Gartner with the child in question, now an adult living
in Canada. Kim Phuc recalls the heat and the fear of the
moment. She and Ut, viewers learned, have stayed in
touch through the years. Ut concludes by saying that he
hopes never again to see pictures like the one he took.
In a brief coda, Poulin introduces a few images from the
recent conference of the World Association of
Community Radio Broadcasters, promising a more
detailed story another week. She then bids her viewers
good night. Commercials deleted.
(This program is in Canadian French.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The
New York Times Company Foundation, 2000/2001.
Details
- NETWORK: CBC/Radio-Canada (Canada)
- DATE: December 1, 1995
- RUNNING TIME: 0:33:23
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:64157
- GENRE: Magazine
- SUBJECT HEADING: International Collection - Canada; Photography, Advertising; Vietnam War; War photography
- SERIES RUN: CBC/Radio-Canada - TV series
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Richard Simoens … Coordinating Producer, Realisateur-coordonnateur
- Yves Munn … Production (Misc.), Realisateur aux moyens de production
- Diane Lecours … Production (Misc.), Assistant aux moyens de production
- David Lefrancois … Production (Misc.), Assistant aux moyens de production
- Ninon Truchon … Production (Misc.), Directrice de site
- Ronald Luttrell … Production (Misc.), Production assistant
- Renault Gariepy … Director
- Kateri Lescop … Director, "Oliviero Toscani" segment
- Diane Besner … Direction (Misc.), Assistant director
- Claudine Blais … Researcher
- Rejean Cuerrier … Researcher, Visual researcher
- Philippe Leduc … Music by
- Madeleine Poulin … Anchor
- Francine Bastien … Reporter
- Bruno Boutot
- Hana Gartner
- Phan Thi, Kim Phuc
- Oliviero Toscani
- Nick Ut