Two Ukraine war journalists open up about 'close calls,' AI on the battlefield and more

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War in Ukraine, and the hazardous role of the journalists who document it, fills the frame in two new documentaries.“2000 Meters to Andriivka” (premiering Nov.

25 on PBS), which captures the brutal campaign to reclaim a strategic village from Russian control, is director Mstyslav Chernov’s follow-up to 2024 Academy Award winner “20 Days in Mariupol.” “Love + War” (now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu), directed by “Free Solo” Oscar winners E.Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, focuses on Pulitzer Prize-winning conflict photographer Lynsey Addario and how she navigates the challenges of her work alongside marriage and raising two children.

Chernov and Addario recently joined The Envelope over Zoom for a conversation about the films and their experiences.Here are edited excerpts.How do you both cultivate your relationship with the people you’re photographing in these tense and dangerous moments?Mstyslav Chernov: As you’re asking the question I’m thinking, ”Is there a real difference when we talk about connection with people while you’re making pictures, or you’re filming, and just normal life connection?” I don’t think it is possible to … enter people’s lives in the most vulnerable moments and document their suffering without first connecting to them as much as possible.

So first and foremost, you figure out if people need help … and then you start photographing.Especially when you do more long-term work, people feel that you’re coming not with the purpose of taking something away from them, but rather to help them share.So it’s the idea of generating empathy?Lynsey Addario: I think it’s the empathy that people pick up on.

There are many different types of photographers or documentarians, and I think that we all have a different style.These days, I’m not covering the front line as much, because I feel like my skills as a person and as a ...