ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER - DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

- Film Independent SPIRIT Award 2015 - The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) - Gotham Independent Film Awards
- Independent Documentary Association (IDA)
- American Cinema Editors - Cinema Eye Honors (Best Documentary, Directing, Editing, and Producing)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary:
- Directors Guild of America (DGA)







FESTIVALS:
* DocAviv - International Competition
* Docville 2015
* One World Romania 2015
* Movies that Matter
* International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights Geneva 2015
* Berlinale 2015
* DocPoint 2015 – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival
* Göteborg International Film Festival 2015
* Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival 2014
* IDFA - Special Presentation
* CPH:DOX - Special Presentation
* DOK Leipzig - Opening Night Film 2014
* London Film Festival (BFI) 2014 - Special Presentation
* New York Film Festival 2014 - Special Presentation


FILM CRITICS AWARDS:
* New York Film Critics Circle
* Los Angeles Film Critics Association
* London Critics' Circle
* San Francisco Film Critics Society
* National Society of Film Critics
* Boston Society of Film Critics




Citizenfour

Category |Human Rights, Investigative Journalism, Justice, Politics
Year | 2014
Country | USA/Germany
Running time | 114’
Format | HD
Production | Praxis Films, Participant Media
Director | Laura Poitras


ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE - DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Poitras had already been working on a film about surveillance for two years when Snowden contacted her, using the name “CITIZENFOUR,” in January 2013.  He reached out to her because he knew she had long been a target of government surveillance, stopped at airports numerous times, and had refused to be intimidated. When Snowden revealed he was a high-level analyst driven to expose the massive surveillance of Americans by the NSA, Poitras persuaded him to let her film.

CITIZENFOUR places you in the room with Poitras, Greenwald, and Snowden as they attempt to manage the media storm raging outside, forced to make quick decisions that will impact their lives and all of those around them.

CITIZENFOUR not only shows you the dangers of governmental surveillance—it makes you feel them. After seeing the film, you will never think the same way about your phone, email, credit card, web browser, or profile, ever again.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR : Laura Poitras

REVIEWS:
“A HAUNTING, HISTORIC DOCUMENT OF SNOWDEN’S MOTIVATIONS AND PERSONALITY.” - WIRED

“PALPABLY ELECTRIC... THE ACTION IS PERILOUSLY REAL,AND THE CAMERA ISN’T ONLY CAPTURING A HISTORICAL EVENT, IT’S PART OF THE MAKING OF IT.” - The Washington Post

“SCENES OF SUCH INTIMATE MOMENTOUSNESS THAT THE MOVIE’S A MUST-SEE PIECE OF WORK.” - The Village Voice

“THE MOST CHILLING THRILLER OF THE YEAR.” - the guardian

“IT’S CHILLINGLY DRAMATIC, A BOURNE-LIKE MOTIF OF INTRIGUE THAT HAS THE EFFECT OF MAKING US REALIZE THAT NO, THIS IS NOT JUST A MOVIE.” - BBC

“THE STUFF OF ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARES...IT PLAYS LIKE THE GREATEST PARANOID THRILLER SINCE ‘ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN’.” - IndieWire

“THE MOVIE OF THE CENTURY... ONE OF THE MOST ABSORBING THINGS I’VE EVER SEEN.” - Rogerebert.com

“TENSE & FRIGHTENING... A PRIMAL POLITICAL FABLE FOR THE DIGITAL AGE.” - The New York Times

“AN AVANT-GARDE PARANOID CONSPIRACY THRILLER.” - New York Magazine

“ONE OF THE MAJOR AND DEFINING DOCUMENTARIES OF RECENT TIMES.” - The Hollywood Reporter

“ONE-OF-A-KIND...AN UNCOMMON VIEW OF HISTORY IN ACTION.” - Associated Press

“TERRIBLY EXCITING...WORTHY OF JOHN LE CARRÉ.” - Los Angeles Times

“EXPLOSIVE!” - Deadline Hollywood

“RIVETING!” - Vogue

“MESMERIZING!” - The New Yorker

“EYE-OPENING & ESSENTIAL!” - TimeOut New York

“EXTRAORDINARY!” - The Wall Street Journal

“A WAKE-UP CALL THAT HITS YOU LIKE A COLD SLAP IN THE FACE.” - Rolling Stone

“URGENT & GRIPPING.” - The Huffington Post

“FANTASTIC, EDGE-OF-SEAT VIEWING.” - Financial Times

“NAIL-BITING... A THRILL AND A SHOCK.” - Vice

PRESS IMAGES: (click to preview)

     

TRAILER :


LAURA POITRAS




Laura Poitras is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, and artist. Her films have premiered at festivals worldwide and, along with her journalism, have received multiple honors including a Peabody Award, as well as Academy Award® and Emmy nominations.

My Country, My Country(2006) focused on the Iraq War was nominated for an Academy Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Emmy Award. The Oath(2010), about Guantánamo, won the Sundance Cinematography Award, Edinburgh Film Festival Documentary Jury Award, and a Gotham Award for Best Documentary. These two films comprise the first two parts of her post-9/11 America trilogy, of which CITIZENFOUR is the final part.

Poitras has taught filmmaking at Duke and Yale Universities. Her work was selected for the 2012 Whitney Biennial and she will have her first solo museum exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 2016. She is the recipient of a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship and was also a 2007 Guggenheim and a 2010 USA Rockefeller fellow.

Poitras’ NSA reporting, based on documents from Edward Snowden, contributed to a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded to The Guardian and Washington Post. This reporting was also honored with a George Polk Award, the International Reporters & Editors (IRE) Medal, and the Ridenhour prize. In 2014, she also received the International Documentary Association Courage Under Fire award.

Along with Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, she is co-founder of The Intercept news site.

Poitras currently lives in Berlin.