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national security administration
Laura Poitras' Documentary 'CitizenFour' Nominated for Oscar
Film detailing story leaks and motivations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden seen as frontrunner for prestigious award
Jan 15, 2015
The documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, Citizenfour, which chronicles the impacts of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's decision to entrust journalists with some of the U.S. spy agency's most deeply-held secrets has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Not her first nomination, Poitras was previously recognized for her 2006 film, My Country, My Country, about life in Iraq under U.S. occupation.
Announced Thursday morning from Hollywood, the Oscar nomination--which also named Poitras' co-producers Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky--was greeted enthusiastically by fellow journalists and filmmakers as well as supporters from across the world.
"Congrats to my brilliant colleague Laura Poitras!!!! CITIZENFOUR nominated for Best Documentary Oscar!" exclaimed Glenn Greenwald, who is both featured in the film and counts as the journalist who has worked most closely with Poitras on the Snowden story since it exploded in the summer of 2013.
And fellow progressive filmmakers behind last's year nominated film, Dirty Wars, tweeted:
Along with CitizenFour, the other nominees for Best Documentary Feature include: 'Finding Vivian Maier' by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel; 'Last Days in Vietnam' by Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester; 'The Salt of the Earth' by Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribiero Salgado, and David Rosier; and 'Virunga' by Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara.
However, as the Guardian film critic Ben Beaumont-Thomas speculates, "With its incredible access and agenda-setting subject, Citizenfour could well consider itself the favourite in the category."
In this staged Q&A at the New York Film Festival in October, Poitras discussed the film in detail:
NYFF52: "CITIZENFOUR" Q&A | Laura Poitras (Full)Laura Poitras talks about "CITIZENFOUR," her documentary about Edward Snowden, the NSA, and surveillance, during a Q&A at ...
Watch the 'Citizenfour' trailer:
Citizenfour Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Edward Snowden Documentary HDSubscribe to TRAILERS: https://bit.ly/sxaw6h Subscribe to COMING SOON: https://bit.ly/H2vZUn Subscribe to INDIE & FILM ...
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Citizenfour Producers Sued for 'Aiding' Edward Snowden
Suit charges Laura Poitras, Weinstein Company 'on behalf of American public'
Dec 23, 2014
A retired naval officer and former government secretary is suing the producers of Citizenfour, the documentary chronicling NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's classified document release in 2013, for "profiteering" from the "theft and misuse" of government files.
The officer and former secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, Horace Edwards, said he was filing the suit "on behalf of the American public."
Snowden's document leak revealed widespread, illegal global spying programs conducted by the U.S. and U.K. governments, among other regimes, which targeted both foreign diplomats and those countries' own citizens for surveillance. The files also identified numerous telecommunications companies as participating in the operations, handing over private customer data and metadata to government agents, even without warrants. Snowden's supporters call him a hero; his detractors call him a traitor.
Edwards, who filed the suit Monday at the Kansas federal court, is one such critic. According to the lawsuit, Edwards believes that the revelations--many of which are still being newly published--caused "irreparable damage to the safety of the American people." His suit aims to prevent "dangerous disruption of foreign affairs due to irresponsible conduct of disloyal government operatives and entertainment industry collaborators".
Among those named in the suit is investigative journalist and filmmaker Laura Poitras, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her work highlighting the leak and also directed and is one of the producers of Citizenfour--a first-person account of the meeting and collaboration in Hong Kong between Poitras, Snowden, and journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill.
"This lawsuit seeks relief against those who profiteer by pretending to be journalists and whistleblowers but in effect are evading the law and betraying their country," Edwards writes in his suit. He also charges Poitras with "hiding [Snowden] in her hotel room while he changes into light disguise, accepting all of the purloined information to use for her personal benefit financially and professionally, filming Defendant Snowden's meeting with a lawyer in Hong Kong as he tries to seek asylum."
Shortly after the documents were released and Snowden's identity was revealed to the world, the U.S. charged the whistleblower with espionage, theft, and conversion of government property. Snowden fled to Russia, where he was granted asylum in 2013 and a three-year residency permit in August. In his suit, Edwards echoes the U.S. government's indictments of Snowden, including that the NSA contractor--and his journalistic supporters--"intentionally violate[d] obligations owed to the American people" and "misuse[d] purloined information disclosed to foreign enemies."
"Citizenfour portrays Defendant Snowden as a well-meaning whistleblower having nowhere else to turn, while the Hollywood Defendants justify their own acts as ones deserving of applause, when in fact the film glorifies international espionage for profit," Edwards writes in his suit.
Edwards is seeking a "constructive trust" to overturn the producers' profits from the film.
Citizenfour won Best Feature at the International Documentary Association awards on December 6. Watch the trailer below:
Citizenfour Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Edward Snowden Documentary HDSubscribe to TRAILERS: https://bit.ly/sxaw6h Subscribe to COMING SOON: https://bit.ly/H2vZUn Subscribe to INDIE & FILM ...
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