the stringer

THE STRINGER, a documentary film by Vietnamese American director Bao Nguyen, was produced and reported by The VII Foundation with production partners XRM Media. It premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and with 250 press reviews and stories, it is one of the most reviewed films in the festival’s history.

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Long lines for water and flour are made by women of refugee families. © Ebrahim Alipoor / VII Mentor Program.
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Captured South Vietnamese soldiers sit on the lawn after North Vietnamese troops seized the presidential palace in Saigon, South Vietnam, on April 30, 1975. Photo by Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images.
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© Ali Arkady / VII.

our mission

The VII Foundation is committed to in-depth journalism covering the crucial issues of our time. In a world where beliefs and actions are increasingly out-of-sync with facts and realities, our response is to ensure the truth is documented to enable communities worldwide to make evidence-based choices about the challenges impacting their lives.

The foundation does this by empowering new voices through education, especially from under-resourced regions where press freedom is limited and journalists are vulnerable. We train practitioners to cover their local communities and global problems, and we produce large-scale and long-term documentary projects that advocate change and detail solutions. We bring new and neglected perspectives to the public agenda and host conversations that campaign for a diverse, safe and viable profession, especially for freelancers worldwide. 

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Riot police attack journalists who accompanied Carlos F. Chamorro, director of Confidencial, to the Plaza El Sol offices to inquire about the confiscation of their offices in Managua, Nicaragua. December 15, 2018. Photograph by Carlos Herrera.
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Apr
24
2025

How Is Latin American Journalism Resisting Authoritarianism?

In the face of authoritarianism – marked by often violent attacks on democratic processes, press freedom, and journalists (along with other forms of abuse) – we will explore how Latin American journalists and photographers are resisting.
President Donald Trump arrives as Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) holds as a sign as Trump enters the House chamber to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images
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Apr
10
2025

Re-Framing the Narrative: Unconventional Imagery From Trump’s Not-Normal First 100 Days

This discussion will focus on images that serve as a counterpoint to, or defiance of, the normalization of the extreme and often unlawful actions taken by the Trump administration that have fomented a constitutional crisis.
A man trying to board an overloaded evacuation plane is stopped by an American official at Nha Trang Air Base in South Vietnam. Nha Trang was captured by North Vietnamese forces on 2 April 1975. On 14 March 1974, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu ordered a general withdrawal of ARVN forces from Vietnam's central highlands region. This turned into an chaotic situation with masses of military and civilians fleeing southwards. Thousands of refugees believed Nha Trang to be a safe haven, but by 1 April 1975 the general panic of retreat reached Nha Trang, which was abandoned by the South Vietnamese Army one day later, yielding the entire northern half of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese. April 2, 1975. Photo by Thai Khac Chuong/Bettmann Archive via Getty Images.
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Apr
08
2025

April 1975 , Phnom Penh - Saigon

Opening on April 8 at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "April 1975, Phnom Penh – Saigon" is an exhibition that examines the lives and work of the journalists who covered the end of the wars in Cambodia and Vietnam in April 1975.

PIERRE & ALEXANDRA BOULAT AWARD


Ludmilla, 89 years old, takes the air in front of the door of her building, riddled with shrapnel holes from the shells that have fallen over the last two years in her yard. Siversk, Donbass, Ukraine. 23 November 2023. © Gaëlle Girbes Winner of the 2024 Pierre & Alexandra Boulat award, sponsored by LaScam.
Ludmilla, 89 years old, takes the air in front of the door of her building, riddled with shrapnel holes from the shells that have fallen over the last two years in her yard. Siversk, Donbass, Ukraine. 23 November 2023. © Gaëlle Girbes Winner of the 2024 Pierre & Alexandra Boulat award, sponsored by LaScam.
APPLY NOW: PIERRE & ALEXANDRA BOULAT AWARD →
The 2025 Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award, created by The Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Association and sponsored by LaScam, is currently open for applications. This prestigious award offers a prize of €8,000 and is aimed at professional photographers whose work effectively explores and highlights important social, economic, political, or cultural issues.

news


Students from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Sarajevo participated in a discussion with the curators of the "April 1975, Phnom Penh — Saigon" exhibition, Gary Knight and Jon Swain, ahead of the exhibition's opening at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. © Melanie Sapina for The VII Foundation.
Students from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Sarajevo participated in a discussion with the curators of the "April 1975, Phnom Penh — Saigon" exhibition, Gary Knight and Jon Swain, ahead of the exhibition's opening at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. © Melanie Sapina for The VII Foundation.
"April 1975 Phnom Penh — Saigon" opens in Sarajevo →
On April 8, 2025, we celebrated the opening of "April 1975, Phnom Penh — Saigon," at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo as part of this year’s Memory Module Program.
The Story Behind The Photo: A Tribute to Paul Lowe →
Our friends at Sniper Alley Photo have released a deeply moving new episode of "The Story Behind The Photo," dedicated to the late VII contributing photographer Paul Lowe (1963 to 2024).
Retomada Laranjeira Nhanderu - Rio Brilhante/MS - March 05, 2023 - Rosicleia, 22, cleans the soil of a newly reclaimed soya field while a Kaiowá Guarani mason gives instructions for the construction of the prayer house, the first and most important building in the new village. Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. March 6th 2023. © Renaud Philippe.
Retomada Laranjeira Nhanderu - Rio Brilhante/MS - March 05, 2023 - Rosicleia, 22, cleans the soil of a newly reclaimed soya field while a Kaiowá Guarani mason gives instructions for the construction of the prayer house, the first and most important building in the new village. Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. March 6th 2023. © Renaud Philippe.
RETOMADA by Renaud Philippe →
The book "RETOMADA," by alumnus Renaud Philippe and published by Four Eyes, is set to launch in Arles in July 2025 and is currently available for pre-sale.
Children from the Teepa family drive the younger siblings home, after a swim in the river. Tūhoe children are taught independence and to care for other family members. Ruatoki, New Zealand, 27 January 2022. © Tatsiana Chypsanava, Pulitzer Center, New Zealand Geographic.
Children from the Teepa family drive the younger siblings home, after a swim in the river. Tūhoe children are taught independence and to care for other family members. Ruatoki, New Zealand, 27 January 2022. © Tatsiana Chypsanava, Pulitzer Center, New Zealand Geographic.
World Press Photo Contest 2025 →
We're thrilled to celebrate the incredible talent within our alumni and VII Community, as several members have been recognized in this year's World Press Photo Contest.
The mobile clinic vans, operated by Alliance for Public Health and sponsored by the Global Fund, arrive at a village in the war-hit Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on Dec. 14, 2024. Photo by Oleksandr Rupeta / The VII Foundation for The Global Fund.
The mobile clinic vans, operated by Alliance for Public Health and sponsored by the Global Fund, arrive at a village in the war-hit Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on Dec. 14, 2024. Photo by Oleksandr Rupeta / The VII Foundation for The Global Fund.
The Global Fund →
The VII Foundation, commissioned by The Global Fund, documented the heroic efforts of frontline medical teams in Ukraine. Ukrainian photographer Oleksandr Rupeta, a 2023-24 VII Mentor Program alumnus, was assigned to capture the work of mobile healthcare teams delivering lifesaving care in war-torn regions.
Journalists document delegates from Pennsylvania casting their votes during the roll call of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro cast the state’s Democratic delegates for Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. © Danny Wilcox Frazier / VII.
Journalists document delegates from Pennsylvania casting their votes during the roll call of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro cast the state’s Democratic delegates for Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. © Danny Wilcox Frazier / VII.
USA 3.0 →
The VII Foundation, Daily Iowan Documentary Workshop, and University of Iowa SJMC present USA 3.0, a project that culminates in a book available now for pre-order.

discover our new brand


A NEW STRUCTURE →
All our work is now united under the same unifying brand — The VII Foundation — and categorized into three areas: Educate, for all training and education; Report, for all storytelling; and Campaign, for all advocacy and dialogue about a free press, media rights, AI and more.
A NEW LOGO →
Our new logo has been completely redesigned by Mechanica Design Director Wade Devers to anchor our rebrand. In the inspiring recording linked here, Wade narrates his process in reimagining our logo, which combines historical references with principles of design.

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