This was the money quote from the og photographer that for me definitely moves it from inspiration to theft
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Imagery that I have been making in Congo since 2010 has been used in a derivative scene from the new film Beasts of No Nation. The film’s director, Cary Fukunaga, emailed me during production to—as he explained—“pick your brain” because “some of your work has struck our aesthetic appetite.” However, he has never cited my work as an influence and even gone out of his way to conceal his sources."
The allegations regarding inappropriate interactions with women, I find concerning.
This, less so.
I'm not familiar with Mosse's work and can't remember this scene in "BONN". I saw the screenshots and they do look very similar (mainly young African men brandishing firearms with backgrounds of red leaves), probably more so than other situations of "borrowing" that at least change some elements of the image.
That said, Mosse didn't pursue litigation. Would a shout out in the "Special Thanks To" section of the credits have sufficed? What did Mosse expect when he engaged in a conversation with Fukunaga, entertaining his clear inquiry? Why give out the recipe for the red leaf special sauce without some sort of agreement in place ensuring acknowledgment? That's weird to me, but I'm paranoid in general.
I guess there could be, like, a cultural appropriation aspect to it if the original photographer was the same skin color as the subjects in question, giving him arguably more inherent ownership of the imagery...but I just looked Mosse up and he's whiter than snow.
Stuff like this kind of reminds me of Tupac bragging about being the one to give Biggie advice to rap for the ladies instead of doing "Party & Bullshit" records, but then when Biggie follows the advice and is successful at it, Tupac gets mad.