Jan. 05--A documentary about James Foley, the freelance war correspondent who was abducted in Syria and beheaded in 2014 by ISIS, is coming to HBO next month.
"Jim: The James Foley Story" is directed by Brian Oakes, a close childhood friend of Foley's, and includes interviews with friends, family and colleagues. Many will remember the shocking news of Foley's death because a video of his execution was posted online.
While working in Syria in 2012, Foley was kidnapped on Thanksgiving Day and went missing for two years before the video of his death (at age 40) was released.
Foley was a 2008 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. While attending grad school, he also "worked as a language arts teacher at the Cook County sheriff's boot camp, an alternative to prison," according to a Tribune story that ran after his death by reporters Dan Hinkel and Lolly Bowean. They wrote that "Foley was fluent in Spanish and believed in using education to reduce recidivism, sheriff's officials said."
The documentary is set to first premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.
nmetz@tribpub.com
@NinaMetzNews
