Citizen Four
Laura Poitras
© Laura Poitras
In January 2013, Laura Poitras received an anonymous e-mail signed by “Citizen Four”. The sender said they would make a large amount of information on the illegal surveillance practices of the NSA and other intelligence agencies public. She went to Hong Kong with two journalists to film the meeting with the whistleblower, who turned out to be Edward Snowden.
With : Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney, Jacob Appelbaum, Ewen MacAskill, Jeremy Scahill
Image : Kirsten Johnson, Trevor Paglen, Laura Poitras, Katy Scoggin
Sound : Frank Kruse
Editing : Mathilde Bonnefoy
Music : Chris Holmes
Image : Kirsten Johnson, Trevor Paglen, Laura Poitras, Katy Scoggin
Sound : Frank Kruse
Editing : Mathilde Bonnefoy
Music : Chris Holmes
Production : Praxis Films, Participant, HBO Documentary Films
Distribution: Haut et Court
Distribution: Haut et Court
Laura Poitras had to take serious security measures in order to make her film. She moved to Berlin after being questioned on several occasions by US customs officials every time she crossed the border and, among other things, she had to make sure that the rushes were on hard disks, with several layers of protection. The finished film depicts a personal experience of surveillance rather than a desire to explain in detail the massive surveillance system put in place by the US government.