French Court Sets Date for Trial Between Nick Ut and Netflix Over ‘Napalm Girl’ Documentary

The court schedule has been set for Nick Ut’s defamation lawsuit in France against Netflix and the VII Foundation over claims made in The Stringer documentary.

There was a hearing in Tarascon — the town in southern France where the lawsuit was filed — on Friday. According to a report by TV5 Monde, spotted by Réponses Photo, the case will be heard across February and March 2027.

Ut’s lawyer, Martin Pradel, tells AFP that the assertions and accusations made in The Stringer have caused “particularly serious damage to the honor, professional integrity, and reputation of Nick Ut, via a story broadcast worldwide more than 50 years after the facts.” The lawyer for Netflix has not commented.

French Legal Case

As PetaPixel reported in March, Ut filed for public defamation under France’s Press Law of 1881. He is seeking €100,000 Euros ($117,000) in damages and €20,000 ($23,000). Ut says that he plans to donate the compensation money to charity.

“Ever since the VII Foundation and Netflix released a film claiming that I didn’t take the ‘Napalm Girl’ photograph, and that I have been lying about it for more than 50 years, it has caused great pain to me and my family,” Ut said in a statement when the lawsuit was announced. “These accusations strike at the very core of who I am. My entire career has been built on telling the truth, often at great personal risk.”

Under French law, a person can be directly summoned to court by someone who believes they are a victim of an offense without a prior investigation by a magistrate. Parts of the film were filmed in France, and the VII Foundation has an office not far from where the court case is taking place.

Divisions

Officially titled The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo, the documentary dropped on Netflix worldwide in November last year. It has caused a sensation in the photojournalism community ever since it was first announced, with many split over who or what to believe. World Press Photo suspended Ut’s credit on the iconic photo in the resulting fallout.

The Associated Press, the agency Ut worked for for most of his career, said it will continue to credit him, but acknowledges that “it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day, on the road or in the office, more than 50 years ago.”

PetaPixel published an in-depth look at all the claims and characters in the documentary here.

Image credits: Netflix