Citizenfour
2014
****
Director: Laura Poitras
Cast:
In early 2013, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras receives encrypted emails from a user known as citizenfour, who offers to leak classified information about illegal surveillance activities. In June, Poitras and journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill travel to Hong Kong to meet the mystery contact who turns out to be Edward Snowden, a disillusioned National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who has decided to become a whistleblower. During the four-day interview, Snowden reveals the true extent of the digital surveillance programs overseen by the intelligence agencies in the US and Europe with the help of telecom operators and major technology companies. This fascinating, paranoid documentary reveals the harsh reality of the information age where truth is often stranger than fiction. The film unfolds like a tense conspiracy thriller. While Snowden exposes sensitive material and the journalists publish it, the authorities in the US are closing in on the source of the leak. An Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature.
