2015 Oscar® Nominees: See three of the 2015 documentary feature nominees.
In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was in the
process of constructing a film about abuses of national
security when she started receiving encrypted e-mails
from someone identifying himself as “citizen four,”
who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert
surveillance programs run by the National Security
Administration (NSA). Poitras and reporter Glenn
Greenwald flew to Hong Kong in June 2013 for the
first of many meetings with their contact who turned
out to be Edward Snowden. The film that resulted
from this series of tense encounters was unprecedented:
a 100 per cent real-life thriller unfolding minute by
minute before our eyes. A brave filmmaker, Poitras is
also a masterful storyteller who compresses the many
days of questioning, waiting, watching the world’s
reaction and agonizing over the next move, into both
a character study of Snowden and a narrative that
will leave you on the edge of your seat.
Presented with