Film ‘homage’ to Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin to enter cinemas this month

The Hollywood biopic of Sunday Times war reporter Marie Colvin, who was killed in a rocket attack in Syria in 2012, is about to enter cinemas in the UK.

Matthew Heineman, the film’s director, has described A Private War as a “love letter to journalism and an homage to Marie”.

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On Wednesday a US judge found Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad’s regime liable for Colvin’s murder, saying she had been “specifically targeted because of her profession” to silence reports on the country’s civil war.

The journalist was reporting on the Syrian government’s bombing of residential areas in the city of Homs when the media centre she was using was targeted. French photographer Remi Ochlik also died in the attack.

A Private War is based on the Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War” by Marie Brenner, which was published just six months after the war correspondent’s death.

It follows Colvin, played by Gone Girl actress Rosamund Pike, through the highs and lows of her career, including when she was shot and lost an eye in Sri Lanka, the injury that resulted in her now iconic black eye patch.

Heineman has described the film as a “psychological portrait” of Colvin.

“We follow her for the last ten years of her life on the forefront of brutal conflicts in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Syria.

“The film is about the insatiable drive that she had to bear witness to the atrocities of war, and the toll that it had on her.”

A Private War enters cinemas on 15 February, but an earlier screening will be shown in more than 180 cinemas across the UK and Ireland, on Monday (4 February) with a Q&A with cast and crew to be held at the Odeon, Leicester Square, and beamed live to screens.

The Q&A will feature Pike and Heineman alongside Jamie Dornan, who plays photographer Paul Conroy. Conroy worked with Colvin and was injured in the attack which killed her. He will also be involved in the Q&A.

Visit aprivatewar.film for more more information and to book tickets.