Photojournalist Françoise Demulder, who covered the Vietnam war and in 1977 became the first woman to win the World Press Photo award, has died. Demulder died Thursday morning after a lengthy illness, according to Jean-François Leroy, director of the Visa pour l'Image photo festival, citing friends of the photographer.
Leroy made the announcement before the Thursday evening photo projection at the festival, currently underway in Perpignan, France. He praised Demulder as someone of "incredible charm and a real character." Friends knew her by the nickname Fifi. Leroy did not indicate Demulder's age and said she was always reluctant to disclose how old she was. A silent slide show of Demulder's work was shown on the screen in her memory.
Demulder's January 1976 photo of Palestinian refugees in Beiruit, Lebanon, won the World Press Photo of the Year prize for 1976. The image shows a woman motioning toward a hooded gunman while a building burns in the background. According to the World Press Photo Web site, "Demulder stated at the time that she hated war, but felt compelled to document how it's always the innocent who suffer, while the powerful get richer and richer."