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Edward Snowden Film 'Citizenfour' By Laura Poitras To Premiere At London Film Festival

Edward Snowden Film To Premiere At London Film Festival
Caroline Frost
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An intimate series of encounters with whistleblower Edward Snowden forms the documentary 'CitizenFour', set to make its debut at London Film Festival next month.

In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was several years into the making of a film about abuses of national security in post 9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted emails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four,” pronouncing himself ready to blow the whistle on what he claimed were massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies.

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Edward Snowden lives in an undisclosed location in Russia following his flight from the US

In June 2013, Laura and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. 'Citizenfour' resulted from this series of tense encounters - a real-life thriller unfolding minute by minute before our eyes.

The film is part of a trilogy of films about post 9/11 America. The first film, 'My Country, My Country', focused on the Iraq War and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007. The second, 'The Oath', was about Guantanamo, and it won a cinematography award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Following its London Film Festival debut, the film will be released in cinemas from 31 October by Film4.

Timeline Of The Edward Snowden Story
First Guardian Story On NSA Leaks Breaks(01 of14)
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On June 5, The Guardian published a story revealing details about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs under President Barack Obama.Reporter Glenn Greenwald obtained a top secret order that shows the government is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers in the United States.Photo: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber (credit:AP)
Second Guardian Story On PRISM Published(02 of14)
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On June 6, The Guardian published a second story detailing a previously undisclosed program called Prism. Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill reported:
The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation – classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection directly from the servers" of major US service providers.
Photo: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak (credit:AP)
Edward Snowden Revealed As Whistleblower(03 of14)
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On June 9, Edward Snowden was revealed to be the whistleblower who leaked the top-secret documents to The Guardian. Snowden is a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the Central Intelligence Agency and an employee of the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. His identity was revealed at his request.Photo: AP Photo/The Guardian (credit:AP)
Snowden Fired(04 of14)
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On June 11, Snowden was fired from his job at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he had worked as a contract employee.Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung (credit:AP)
Snowden Speaks With The South China Morning Post(05 of14)
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On June 14, Snowden opened up to the South China Morning Post, claiming he has evidence that the U.S. has been hacking Chinese networks for years. He also expressed a desire to stay in Hong Kong in the interview.“I have had many opportunities to flee HK, but I would rather stay and fight the US government in the courts, because I have faith in HK’s rule of law," Snowden said. Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung (credit:AP)
Officials: Data-Collection Programs Thwarted Terror Plots(06 of14)
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On June 15, intelligence officials said information from the controversial data-collection programs thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries.Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
The Guardian Hosts Live Q&A With Snowden(07 of14)
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On June 17, The Guardian hosted a live web chat with Snowden, answering readers' questions about the scandal.You can read the Q&A here.Photo: AP Photo/Vincent Yu (credit:AP)
Intelligence Officials Defend Programs To Congress(08 of14)
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On June 18, the House Intelligence Committee held a rare public hearing featuring leaders from the office of the director of national intelligence, the NSA, the FBI and the Department of Justice.HuffPost's Michael McAuliff reported on the hearing:
The remarkable array of spymasters in an open session highlighted how seriously the intelligence officials believe the leaks have hurt U.S. security, but the hearing also raised questions about whether counterterrorism officials were doing all they could to protect Americans' constitutional rights.Officials said over and over that the damage done was significant, calling it "irreversible" and contending that terrorists had absorbed the details about NSA efforts and would now seek to work around them. Most members of the committee seemed to agree that the important damage here was not to citizens' rights, but to their safety.
Photo: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite (credit:AP)
Snowden Charged With Espionage(09 of14)
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On June 21, the United States filed espionage charges against Snowden. Reuters reports Snowden was charged with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person, according to a criminal complaint dated June 14.Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File (credit:AP)
U.S. Seeks Snowden's Extradition(10 of14)
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On June 22, the U.S. went to Hong Kong authorities seeking the extradition of Snowden."Our law enforcement officials are in conversation...with the Hong Kong authorities at this point," outgoing White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon was quoted as saying by CBS.Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung (credit:AP)
Snowden Leaves Hong Kong, Arrives In Moscow(11 of14)
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On June 23, Snowden left Hong Kong and landed in Moscow, Russia. He was on an Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow, and was reportedly booked on a flight to fly to Cuba the next day.Photo: VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
Ecuador Receives Asylum Request From Snowden(12 of14)
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On June 23, Ecuador Minister of Foreign Affairs Ricardo Patiño Aroca tweeted that the government of Ecuador had received an asylum request from Edward Snowden.WikiLeaks released a statement on the request, saying Snowden was "bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks."Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
Snowden's Passport Revoked(13 of14)
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On June 23, reports said Snowden's passport had been revoked by the U.S.The AP reported:
A U.S. official on Sunday said Edward Snowden's passport was annulled before he left Hong Kong for Russia. Snowden's travel plans could be complicated – but not thwarted – by a lack of passport. The U.S. official said that if a senior official in a country or airline ordered it, a country could overlook the withdrawn passport.
Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung (credit:AP)
Snowden Statement Presses Obama On Asylum Request(14 of14)
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On July 1, WikiLeaks released a letter claiming to be from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, in which the Obama Administration is attacked for attempting to block "the right to seek asylum.""Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum," the letter says.Snowden has reportedly made 21 applications for asylum worldwide with little success.Click here to read the full text of the letter.Photo: AP Photo/Sergei Grits (credit:AP)

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