“Citizenfour”, the Academy Award-winning documentary on Edward Snowden, opens in cinemas
In the film, which opens in cinemas on the 27th of March, film maker and journalist Laura Poitras talks to the analyst following his revelations of the surveillance tactics being employed by the USA’s National Security Agency
In January 2013, film maker and journalist Laura Poitras began receiving encrypted emails signed by one Citizenfour in which the sender claimed to have proof of the illegal surveillance programmes being carried out by the NSA, the National Security Agency of the United States of America, in collaboration with other intelligence agencies around the world.
Five months later, in conjunction with also journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, Poitras flew to Hong Kong for the first of what were to be many meetings with the anonymous email sender, who turned out to be Edward Snowden. For the meetings the film maker always travelled with a camera in order to record the basis of what has now become the documentary that goes by the codename of the controversial analyst, Citizenfour. The film, the recent winner of an Academy Award winner in the Best Documentary category, takes place in the hotel room from where Snowden attempts to oversee the media storm that arises following his dramatic revelations.
In addition, the film, which is presented in the style of a real-life thriller, reveals the surveillance being carried out by these security agencies and exactly what can be known about people via their telephones, emails, credit cards, web browsers and social media profiles. Citizenfour opens in cinemas on the 27th of March.
Citizenfour
When: opens in cinemas on the 27th of March
Where: Barcelona cinemas
More information here