{{Short description|2014 documentary film by Laura Poitras}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox film | name = Citizenfour | image = Citizenfour poster.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Laura Poitras | producer = {{Plainlist| * Laura Poitras * Mathilde Bonnefoy * Dirk Wilutzky }} | starring = {{Plainlist| * Edward Snowden * Glenn Greenwald * William Binney * Jacob Appelbaum * Ewen MacAskill }} | cinematography = {{Plainlist| * Kirsten Johnson * Trevor Paglen * Katy Scoggin }} | editing = Mathilde Bonnefoy | studio = {{Plainlist| * HBO Documentary Films<ref>{{cite web|title=Citizenfour (2014) - Financial Information|work=The Numbers|accessdate=7 March 2021|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Citizenfour#tab=summary}}</ref> * Participant Media * Praxis Films }} | distributor = Radius-TWC | released = {{Film date|2014|10|10|NYFF|2014|10|24|United States}} | runtime = 113 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 112:55--><ref>{{cite web | url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/citizenfour-film | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305203704/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/citizenfour-film | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 5, 2016 | title=''CITIZENFOUR'' (15) | publisher=British Board of Film Classification | date=October 17, 2014 | access-date=August 8, 2015}}</ref> | country = {{Plainlist| * United States * Germany }} | language = {{Plainlist| * English * German * Portuguese }} | budget = $1 million<ref name=wrap>{{cite web|url=http://powergrid.thewrap.com/project/citizenfour|title=Citizen Four (2004)|work=The Wrap|date=July 13, 2015|access-date=March 12, 2017|archive-date=March 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313131145/http://powergrid.thewrap.com/project/citizenfour|url-status=dead}}</ref> | gross = $3 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=citizenfour.htm |title=Citizenfour (2014) |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=February 24, 2015}}</ref> }} '''''Citizenfour''''' is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. The film had its US premiere on October 10, 2014, at the New York Film Festival and its UK premiere on October 17, 2014, at the BFI London Film Festival. The film features Snowden and Glenn Greenwald, and was co-produced by Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky, with Steven Soderbergh and others serving as executive producers. ''Citizenfour'' received critical acclaim upon release, and was the recipient of numerous accolades, including Best Documentary Feature at the 87th Academy Awards. This film is the third part to a 9/11 trilogy following ''My Country, My Country'' (2006) and ''The Oath'' (2010).
==Synopsis== thumb|left|thumbtime=1:05|Shot from the film trailer for ''Citizenfour'' In January 2013, Laura Poitras, an American documentary film director/producer who had been working for several years on a film about monitoring programs in the United States that were the result of the September 11 attacks, receives an encrypted e-mail from a stranger who calls himself "Citizen Four."<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/10/snowdens-first-emails-to-poitras/|title=These Are the Emails Snowden Sent to First Introduce His Epic NSA Leaks|first=Andy|last=Greenberg|magazine=Wired|date=October 13, 2014}}</ref> (Per a 2014 ''Vice'' article featuring Poitras, Snowden chose this codename as a nod to three NSA whistleblowers who came before him: Bill Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, and Thomas Drake.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Woman Who Captured Snowden |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/laura-poitras-the-woman-who-captured-snowden/ |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=Vice.com |date=October 20, 2014 |language=en}}</ref>) In Snowden's initial message to Poitras, he offers her inside information about illegal wiretapping practices of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, accompanied by columnist Glenn Greenwald and ''The Guardian'' intelligence reporter Ewen MacAskill,<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2014/05/edward-snowden-politics-interview|title=The Snowden Saga: A Shadowland of Secrets and Light|author1=Suzanna Andrews|author2=Bryan Burrough|author3=Sarah Ellison|work=Vanity Fair|date=May 2014}}</ref> she travels to Hong Kong with her camera for the first meeting with "Citizenfour" in a hotel, who reveals himself as Edward Snowden. Scenes of their meeting take place in Snowden's hotel room, where he maintains his privacy. Shots of Snowden in his bed, in front of his mirror and of the hotel from a distance form the character of Snowden as a trapped political agent.<ref>Thomas Keenan, “Windows: of Vulnerability,” Ed. Bruce Robbins, The Phantom Public Sphere (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,1997), 121-141</ref>
After four days of interviews, on June 9, Snowden's identity is made public at his request. As media outlets begin to discover his location at the Mira Hotel, Snowden moves into Poitras's room in an attempt to elude phone calls made to his room. Facing potential extradition and prosecution in the United States, Snowden schedules a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and applies for refugee status. After Poitras believes she is being followed, she leaves Hong Kong for Berlin, Germany.
On June 21, the US government requests the Hong Kong government extradite Snowden. Snowden manages to depart from Hong Kong, but his US passport is cancelled before he can connect to Havana, stranding him in the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow for 40 days. On August 1, 2013, the Russian government grants Snowden temporary asylum for a period of one year.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Chumley|first1=Cheryl|last2=Sherfinski|first2=David|title=Edward Snowden granted asylum in Russia, leaves airport|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/1/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-granted-asylum-ru/|work=The Washington Times|access-date=April 21, 2015}}</ref> Meanwhile, Greenwald returns to his home in Rio de Janeiro and speaks publicly about United States's utilization of NSA programs for foreign surveillance. Greenwald and Poitras maintain a correspondence wherein they both express reluctance to return to the United States.
Throughout, the film offers smaller vignettes that precede and follow Snowden's Hong Kong interviews, including William Binney speaking about NSA programs, and eventually testifying before the German Parliament regarding NSA spying in Germany.
The film closes with Greenwald, Snowden and Poitras meeting once again, this time in Russia. Greenwald and Snowden discuss new emerging details on US intelligence programs, careful to only write down and not speak critical pieces of information. Greenwald tears these documents creating a pile of scraps, before slowly removing them from the table.
==Cast== * Edward Snowden * Glenn Greenwald * Laura Poitras * Ewen MacAskill * Jacob Appelbaum * William Binney * Julian Assange * Ladar Levison * Jeremy Scahill * Sarah Harrison
== Background on Snowden == left|thumb|200x200px|Edward Snowden, October 2013 Born on June 21, 1983, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Edward Snowden first became involved with the United States government upon his enrollment in the Army Reserves in the spring of 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/edward-snowden-21262897|title=Edward Snowden|website=Biography|language=en-us|access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref> Snowden claims to have left the program after a few months because he broke his legs in a training accident while a US House of Representatives report claims he had shin splints.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Executive Summary of Review of the Unauthorized Disclosures of Former National Security Agency Contractor Edward Snowden|publisher=U.S. House of Representatives|year=2016|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> He then began working for the CIA in 2006 and was stationed with diplomatic cover at the embassy in Geneva, Switzerland in 2007. After nearly three years with the agency, Snowden resigned his position in February 2009 in order to begin working for a contractor with Dell for the NSA.
It was at this point in his career that Snowden could sense that his views were changing; "I watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in ... [The NSA] are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/01/edward-snowden-intelligence-nsa-contractor-extract|title=How Edward Snowden went from loyal NSA contractor to whistleblower|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=2014-02-01|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-10-08}}</ref> In 2012, Snowden was reassigned from Yokota base in Japan to the Kunia Operations Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, working for Dell before serving as a consultant to Booz Allen Hamilton.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview/edward-snowden-timeline-n114871|title=Edward Snowden: A Timeline - NBC News|work=NBC News|access-date=2018-10-08|language=en}}</ref> As an "infrastructure analyst" at the National Threat Operations Center, he monitored internet communication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Snowden |first1=Edward J. |title=Permanent Record |date=2019 |publisher=Henry Holt & Co. |location=New York |pages=150, 277}}</ref>
In his own words, the longer he continued to work for the NSA, the more he "worked in to resist" his own feelings regarding the various programs in place at the agency.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/edward-snowden-says-motive-behind-leaks-was-to-expose-surveillance-state/2013/06/09/aa3f0804-d13b-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html|title=Edward Snowden says motive behind leaks was to expose 'surveillance state'|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-10-20}}</ref> He had served at the Hawaiian base for approximately 15 months prior to leaving the United States with thousands of classified documents. In 2020, Snowden is still living in exile in Russia and conducted three interviews, one with John Oliver on ''Last Week Tonight'' in April 2015 - one with NPR's Fresh Air segment<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/09/19/761918152/exiled-nsa-contractor-edward-snowden-i-haven-t-and-i-won-t-cooperate-with-russia|title=Edward Snowden Speaks Out: 'I Haven't And I Won't' Cooperate With Russia|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref> and one with Wired<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/story/after-six-years-in-exile-edward-snowden-explains-himself/|title=After 6 Years in Exile, Edward Snowden Explains Himself|magazine=Wired|access-date=2020-02-13|language=en|issn=1059-1028}}</ref> prior to the release of his autobiography ''Permanent Record'' on September 12, 2019.
==Production== By 2012, Poitras had begun work on the third film in her 9/11 trilogy—following ''My Country, My Country'' (2006) and ''The Oath'' (2010)—which she intended to focus broadly on the topic of domestic surveillance for which she interviewed Assange, Greenwald, Binney, and Appelbaum.<ref name="Packer 2014">{{cite magazine|last1=Packer|first1=George|author-link1=George Packer|title=Laura Poitras's closeup view of Edward Snowden.|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/holder-secrets|access-date=December 12, 2014|magazine=The New Yorker|date=October 20, 2014}}</ref> She was first contacted by Snowden in January 2013 after he was unable to establish encrypted communications with Greenwald.<ref name="Lapin 2014">{{cite web |last1=Lapin|first1=Andrew |title='Citizenfour' Follows The Snowden Story Without (Much) Grandstanding |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/10/24/356100779/citizenfour-follows-the-snowden-story-without-much-grandstanding|publisher=NPR|access-date=December 12, 2014|date=October 24, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/05/excerpt-glenn-greenwalds-no-place-to-hide/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529085103/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/05/excerpt-glenn-greenwalds-no-place-to-hide/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-05-29 |title=Excerpt: Glenn Greenwald's 'No Place to Hide'|first=Glenn |last=Greenwald |work=ABC News}}</ref> She flew to Hong Kong in late May 2013, where, over the course of eight days, she filmed Snowden in his hotel room{{r|Packer 2014}} at the Mira Hotel in Hong Kong. Later, she traveled to Moscow where she filmed a second interview with Snowden conducted by Greenwald.
Production company Praxis Films was involved in the production of the documentary. The film was distributed by RADIUS TWC in the US,<ref name="Lang 2014">{{cite web|last1=Lang|first1=Brent|title=Radius-TWC Chief on 'Citizenfour': 'It's Going to Get Heated'|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/radius-twc-chief-on-citizenfour-its-going-to-get-heated-1201339566/|website=Variety|access-date=December 12, 2014|date=October 26, 2014}}</ref> BRITDOC Foundation and Artificial Eye in the UK<ref name="Frater 2014">{{cite web|last1=Frater|first1=Patrick|title=Edward Snowden Documentary 'Citizenfour' Added to London Festival Lineup|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/edward-snowden-documentary-citizenfour-added-to-london-festival-lineup-1201307505/|website=Variety|access-date=December 12, 2014|date=September 17, 2014}}</ref> and Piffl Media in Germany. The broadcast rights for television were obtained by Channel 4 (United Kingdom), HBO Documentary Films (USA) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Germany).
The soundtrack consists of portions of the Nine Inch Nails album ''Ghosts I–IV'', which was released under a Creative Commons license (BY-NC-SA) in 2008.
===Security measures=== {{NSA surveillance|1|2|3}} Poitras took many security precautions related to the film, described by military writer Peter Maass among others.<ref name=maass>{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html|first=Peter|last=Maass|title=How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets |work=The New York Times|date=August 13, 2013}}</ref> She moved to Berlin, Germany<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/09/berlins-digital-exiles-tech-activists-escape-nsa |first=Carole|last=Cadwalladr|title=Berlin's digital exiles: where tech activists go to escape the NSA|date=November 9, 2014|work=The Guardian}}</ref> after being detained repeatedly at border controls when entering the US.{{r|maass}} She edited the film in Germany after flying directly there from Hong Kong with the Snowden footage, to prevent the FBI from showing up with a search warrant for her hard drives. All the film footage is kept on encrypted drives with multiple levels of nested protection.<ref name="wired-crypto">{{citation|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/10/laura-poitras-crypto-tools-made-snowden-film-possible/ |title=Laura Poitras on the Crypto Tools That Made Her Snowden Film Possible|first=Andy|last=Greenberg |magazine=Wired|date=October 15, 2014}}</ref> The computer she uses for reading sensitive documents is separated from the internet by an air gap. Greenwald credited her with a "complete expert level of understanding of how to do a story like this with total technical and operational safety". Maass called Poitras's security skills "particularly vital — and far from the journalistic norm — in an era of pervasive government spying", and quotes Snowden stating that "[i]n the wake of this year's disclosure, it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless."{{r|maass}}
Producer Bonnefoy has also discussed the encrypted workflow used in making the film, adding "if we have a conversation that's particularly confidential, we'll move the electronics out of the room, or we'll just meet somewhere outside of the editing room, without our phones."<ref>{{citation |url=http://filmmakermagazine.com/88016-positive-trauma-editor-mathilde-bonnefoy-on-citizenfour/ |title=Positive Trauma: Editor Mathilde Bonnefoy on CITIZENFOUR|work=Filmmaker magazine |first=Scott|last=Macaulay|date=October 20, 2014}}</ref>
The Film Society of Lincoln Center (which selects films for the New York Film Festival) reported<ref name=nyff2>{{citation|url=http://www.filmlinc.com/daily/entry/silent-no-more-laura-poitras-talks-about-citizenfour|title=Silent No More, Laura Poitras Talks About 'CITIZENFOUR'|first=Eugene|last=Hernandez |date=October 14, 2014|publisher=Film Society of Lincoln Center}}</ref> that Poitras changed the location of the initial screening for the NYFF's selection committee several times, in case someone was tracking her movements. The committee was shown a rough cut that had sensitive material redacted, and the NYFF "had to keep the movie's inclusion in the festival under wraps until mid-September" and it was "kept out of festival schedules and documents until we could talk about it openly". The last-minute inclusion in the festival's main slate was an unprecedented event for the NYFF,<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/edward-snowden-doc-added-new-733161|title=New York Film Fest: Top-Secret Edward Snowden Doc Added to Lineup |first=Scott|last=Feinberg|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=September 16, 2014}}</ref> and "tickets for both screenings sold out within just a few hours".{{r|nyff2}}
The film's ending credits unusually{{r|wired-crypto}} name several free software projects and security tools, without which "this film would not be possible". The programs named include Tor, Tails, Debian GNU/Linux, Off-the-Record Messaging, the GNU Privacy Guard, Truecrypt, and SecureDrop. In October 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published an informational page about the software credited in the film,<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/10/7-privacy-tools-essential-making-citizenfour|title=The 7 Privacy Tools Essential to Making Snowden Documentary CITIZENFOUR|publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation|first=Parker|last=Higgins|date=October 29, 2014}}</ref> and, in November 2015, Poitras was prominently featured in a Tor fund-raising campaign.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.torproject.org/blog/what-tor-supporter-looks-laura-poitras|title=This is what a Tor Supporter looks like: Laura Poitras}}</ref>
==Release== The international film premiere took place on October 10, 2014, in the United States at the New York Film Festival. In Europe, the documentary was shown for the first time on October 17 at the BFI London Film Festival. The first showing in Germany was on October 27 as part of the Leipzig Film Festival. The director Laura Poitras was present in Hamburg at the Abaton cinema for a preview on November 4–5 and at the official German premiere at the Kino International. Its widest release {{as of|2015|January|22|lc=y|df=US}}, was 105 theaters, in the weekend of December 12–18, 2014.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=citizenfour.htm|title=Citizenfour |publisher=Box Office Mojo}}</ref>
It premiered on Home Box Office on February 23, 2015, the day after the 87th Academy Awards<ref>{{citation |url=https://deadline.com/2015/01/edward-snowden-documentary-citizenfour-premiere-date-hbo-oscars-1201344815/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112075709/http://deadline.com/2015/01/edward-snowden-documentary-citizenfour-premiere-date-hbo-oscars-1201344815/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 12, 2015 |title=Edward Snowden Docu 'CitizenFour' To Debut On HBO Right After Oscars|first= Nellie|last= Andreeva|publisher=Deadline Hollywood|date=January 8, 2015}}</ref> and was subsequently released for streaming on HBO Go.<ref>{{citation|url=http://decider.com/2015/02/24/citizenfour-documentary-hbo-go/|title=Oscar Winning Edward Snowden Documentary 'Citizenfour' Is Now On HBO Go|publisher=Decider|first=Olivia|last=Armstrong |date=February 24, 2015}}</ref> Channel 4 broadcast it in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2015<ref>{{citation|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/02/psa-oscar-winning-citizenfour-to-air-on-hbo-today/ |title=PSA: Oscar-winning Citizenfour to air on HBO today|first=Joe|last=Mullin|date=February 23, 2015}}</ref> and has released it for view-on-demand through March 4, 2015.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/citizenfour/on-demand|title=Citizenfour|publisher=Channel 4|access-date=February 28, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228163639/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/citizenfour/on-demand|archive-date=February 28, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
==Reception== {{Anchor|Critics}} <!-- Please note, when updating Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic ratings, you should also update the "accessdate" field within the citation tags to reflect the date on which you have updated them. --> <!-- The following template will update itself automatically with the latest Rotten Tomatoes information. Please see Template:Rotten Tomatoes score for more information --> <!-- TEMPORARILY COMMENTED OUT UNTIL IT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED THIS ACTUALLY WORKS INSTEAD OF JUST DEFACING ARTICLE {{Rotten Tomatoes score|4044364|all_in_one_plus_consensus|mdy=y}} -->''Citizenfour'' received widespread critical acclaim. It has an approval rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 145 reviews, with an average score of 8.26/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Part real-life thriller, part sobering examination of 21st century civil liberties, ''Citizenfour'' transcends ideology to offer riveting, must-see cinema."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/citizenfour/|title=Citizenfour (2014)|work=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango Media|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> Metacritic gave the film a score of 88 out of 100 based on 38 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref name="meta">{{Cite web| url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/citizenfour |title=''Citizenfour'' Reviews|work=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive |access-date=June 30, 2016}}</ref>
Ronnie Scheib of ''Variety'' wrote: <blockquote>No amount of familiarity with whistleblower Edward Snowden and his shocking revelations of the U.S. government's wholesale spying on its own citizens can prepare one for the impact of Laura Poitras's extraordinary documentary ''Citizenfour''... far from reconstructing or analyzing a fait accompli, the film tersely records the deed in real time, as Poitras and fellow journalist Glenn Greenwald meet Snowden over an eight-day period in a Hong Kong hotel room to plot how and when they will unleash the bombshell that shook the world. Adapting the cold language of data encryption to recount a dramatic saga of abuse of power and justified paranoia, Poitras brilliantly demonstrates that information is a weapon that cuts both ways.<ref>{{citation|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-citizenfour-1201327600/ |title=Film Review: 'Citizenfour'|first=Ronnie|last=Scheib|date=October 11, 2014|work=Variety}}</ref></blockquote>
Spencer Ackerman writes in ''The Guardian'': <blockquote>''Citizenfour'' must have been a maddening documentary to film. Its subject is pervasive global surveillance, an enveloping digital act that spreads without visibility, so its scenes unfold in courtrooms, hearing chambers and hotels. Yet the virtuosity of Laura Poitras, its director and architect, makes its 114 minutes crackle with the nervous energy of revelation.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/11/citizenfour-review-snowden-vindicated-poitras-nsa-journalism | title=''Citizenfour'' Review – Poitras' Victorious Film Shows Snowden Vindicated | work=The Guardian | date=October 11, 2014 | access-date=October 11, 2014 | last=Ackerman | first=Spencer}}</ref></blockquote>
''Time'' magazine rated the film #3 out of its top 10 movies of 2014<ref>{{citation |url=http://time.com/3616154/top-10-best-movies-2014/ |title=Top 10 Best Movies |author=Richard Corliss |author-link=Richard Corliss |date=December 2, 2014 |magazine=Time magazine |access-date=January 26, 2015 |archive-date=July 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730223451/http://time.com/3616154/top-10-best-movies-2014/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and called the film "This Halloween's Scariest Chiller".<ref name="corliss1">{{citation |url=https://time.com/3538893/review-citizenfour-laura-poitras-edward-snowden-us-government/ |title=Review: ''Citizenfour'' Is This Halloween's Scariest Chiller |first=Richard|last=Corliss |date=October 26, 2014 |magazine=Time}}</ref> ''Vanity Fair'' rated it #4 out of its top 10<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/12/best-movies-of-2014 |title=The 10 Best Movies of 2014 |first=Richard|last=Lawson |date=December 8, 2014 |magazine=Vanity Fair}}</ref> and ''Grantland'' rated it #3 of its top 10.<ref>{{citation |url=http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-top-10-movies-of-2014/ |title=The Top 10 Movies of 2014 |author=Wesley Morris |author-link=Wesley Morris |date=December 18, 2014 |publisher=Grantland}}</ref> Writing for the ''Chicago Tribune'', former Defense Department intelligence analyst Alex Lyda penned a negative review, calling Snowden "more narcissist than patriot".<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-snowden-cia-citizenfour-oscars-korea-perspec-1225-jm-20141223-story.html |first=Alex|last=Lyda |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 23, 2014 |title=Edward Snowden is more narcissist than patriot}}</ref> David Edelstein reviewed the film mostly favorably, and jocularly advised viewers "don't buy your ticket online or with a credit card".<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/10/movie-review-citizenfour-edward-snowden.html |title=The Edward Snowden Documentary Citizenfour Puts You Right in the Room As History Is Made |author=David Edelstein |author-link=David Edelstein |date=October 24, 2014 |publisher=vulture.com}}</ref>
The film site Fandor has published an extensive survey of other articles and reviews about ''Citizenfour'', updated through December 25, 2014.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-nyff-2014-laura-poitrass-citizenfour |title=NYFF 2014 - Laura Poitras's ''Citizenfour'' |first=David |last=Hudson |date=October 12, 2014 |publisher=Fandor |access-date=January 26, 2015 |archive-date=February 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207044720/https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-nyff-2014-laura-poitrass-citizenfour |url-status=dead }}</ref>
=== Movie's impact === On Sept. 18, 2018, it was ruled by the European Court of Human Rights that the U.K. spy agency's bulk collection of telecom data violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The Strasburg-based court ruled 5-2 that the practice "failed to safeguard rights to privacy guaranteed under the human rights convention". The complaint was brought on by ten groups including the ACLU, Privacy International, Amnesty International and other civil liberties groups around the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90236535/court-uk-spy-program-revealed-in-edward-snowden-leaks-violated-human-rights|title=Court: U.K. spy program revealed in Edward Snowden leaks violated human rights|last=Melendez|first=Steven|date=2018-09-13|website=Fast Company|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://privacyinternational.org/feature/2271/qa-european-court-human-rights-rules-uk-mass-surveillance-laws-violate-rights|title=Q&A: European Court of Human Rights Rules UK Mass Surveillance Laws Violate Rights|website=Privacy International|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-07-18|archive-date=July 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718044912/https://privacyinternational.org/feature/2271/qa-european-court-human-rights-rules-uk-mass-surveillance-laws-violate-rights|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2018/09/13/european-court-human-rights-uk-gchq-mass-surveillance/|title=Top European Court Says British Spies Broke Human Rights Rules With Their Mass Surveillance Tactics|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2019-07-18}}</ref>
==Lawsuit== In December 2014, retired naval officer and oil executive Horace Edwards of Kansas filed suit against the film's producers "on behalf of the American people" for aiding and abetting Snowden's leaks.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/citizenfour-producers-sued-edward-snowden-759839 |title=''Citizenfour'' Producers Sued Over Edward Snowden Leaks |first=Eriq|last=Gardner |date=December 22, 2014 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://cjonline.com/news/2014-12-31/topeka-man-89-files-suit-against-edward-snowden-documentary-producers |title=Topeka man, 89, files suit against Edward Snowden, documentary producers |date=December 31, 2014 |first=Justin|last=Wingerter |work=The Topeka Capital-Journal }}</ref> ''The Hollywood Reporter'' provided some legal analysis, noting observers opining that Edwards may not have legal standing to pursue the lawsuit.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/man-suing-citizenfour-looks-drag-763852 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |first=Eriq|last=Gardner |date=January 14, 2015 |title=Man Suing Over ''Citizenfour'' Looks to Drag U.S. Into Edward Snowden Leaks Lawsuit}}</ref> Edwards also challenged the film's Oscar eligibility on the grounds that Poitras's 2013 short film showing Greenwald interviewing Snowden constituted a previous release of ''Citizenfour'', rendering it ineligible under Oscar rules. The Academy rejected the claim, noting that "''The Guardian'' interview appears in less than two minutes of the documentary", and ruled that ''Citizenfour'' was eligible for Oscar consideration.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/academy-rejects-challenge-citizenfour-oscar-759987 |title=Academy Rejects Challenge to ''Citizenfour'' Oscar Eligibility |first=Scott|last=Feinberg |date=December 23, 2014 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}}</ref>
In February 2015, the filmmakers asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas to dismiss the lawsuit on standing and jurisdictional grounds, and on First Amendment grounds citing ''Bartnicki v. Vopper''.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/citizenfour-filmmakers-demand-end-lawsuit-772519|title='Citizenfour' Filmmakers Demand End to Lawsuit Over Edward Snowden Disclosures |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|date=February 11, 2015|last=Gardner|first=Eriq}}</ref> Edwards officially dropped the case on April 3, 2015.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/05/07/kansan-drops-suit-over-oscar-winning-snowden-doc.htm |publisher=Courthouse News Service |title=Kansan Drops Suit Over Oscar-Winning Snowden Doc |date=May 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://cryptome.org/2015/04/edwards-045.pdf |title=Notice of Dismissal |publisher=Court filing |date=April 3, 2015}}</ref>
==Awards and nominations== {| class="wikitable sortable" width="100%" |- ! Award ! Date of ceremony ! Category ! Recipients and nominees ! Result |- | DOK Leipzig 2014<ref>{{citation |url = http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/preistraeger-2014/filmpreis-leipziger-ring/?lang=en |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150128112440/http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/preistraeger-2014/filmpreis-leipziger-ring/?lang=en |url-status = dead |archive-date = January 28, 2015 |title = Film Prize 'LEIPZIGER RING' |date = November 1, 2014 |publisher = DOK Leipzig }}</ref> | October 29, 2014 | "Leipziger Ring" | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | Gotham Independent Film Awards | December 1, 2014 | Best Documentary | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | IDA Documentary Awards<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.documentary.org/awards2014 |title=30th Annual IDA Documentary Awards Winners|date=May 15, 2014 }}</ref> | December 5, 2014 | Best Feature | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | rowspan=6 | Cinema Eye Honors<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/citizenfour-wins-four-awards-at-761809 |title='Citizenfour' Wins Four Awards at Cinema Eye Honors |work=The Hollywood Reporter |first=Hilary|last=Lewis |date=January 7, 2015}}</ref> | rowspan=6 | January 7, 2015 | Outstanding Achievements in Nonfiction Filmmaking | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | Outstanding Achievements in Direction | Laura Poitras | {{won}} |- | Outstanding Achievements in Editing | Mathilde Bonnefoy | {{won}} |- | Outstanding Achievements in Production | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky | {{won}} |- | Audience Choice | ''Citizenfour'' | {{nom}} |- | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | | {{nom}} |- | Critics' Choice Movie Award | January 15, 2015 | Best Documentary Feature | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | ACE Eddie Award | January 30, 2015 | Best Edited Documentary Feature | Mathilde Bonnefoy | {{won}} |- | Directors Guild of America Award<ref>{{citation|url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/dga-award-winners-2015-1201427576/|title=DGA Awards: 'Birdman' Wins Best Feature Film for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu|date=February 7, 2015|first=Dave|last=McNary|work=Variety}}</ref> | February 7, 2015 | Outstanding Directing – Documentaries | Laura Poitras | {{won}} |- | BAFTA Awards<ref name="BAFTA">{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/2015/film |title=Film in 2015 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=n.d. |website=bafta.org |publisher=BAFTA |access-date=February 22, 2015}}</ref> | February 8, 2015 | Best Documentary | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky | {{won}} |- | Satellite Awards | February 15, 2015 | Best Documentary Film | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | Independent Spirit Awards | February 21, 2015 | Best Documentary | ''Citizenfour'' | {{won}} |- | Academy Awards<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2015 |title=The 87th Academy Awards |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref> | February 22, 2015 | Best Documentary Feature | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky | {{won}} |- | rowspan=3 | Deutscher Filmpreis<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/fileadmin/FP/daten/b_Download_PM/Liste_Preistraeger_2015.pdf |title=Die Preisträger des deutschen Filmpreises 2015 (German) |work=deutscher-filmpreis.de |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620043107/http://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/fileadmin/FP/daten/b_Download_PM/Liste_Preistraeger_2015.pdf |archive-date=June 20, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | rowspan=3 | June 19, 2015 | Best Documentary Film | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky | {{won}} |- | Best Editing | Mathilde Bonnefoy | {{nom}} |- | Best Sound Design | Frank Kruse, Matthias Lempert and Alexander Buck | {{nom}} |- | rowspan=4 | Primetime Creative Emmy Awards<ref>{{cite web|title=Citizenfour|url=http://www.emmys.com/shows/citizenfour|publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|access-date=September 13, 2015}}</ref> | rowspan=4 | September 12, 2015 | Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky | {{won}} |- | Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming | Laura Poitras | {{nom}} |- | Outstanding Directing For Nonfiction Programming | Laura Poitras | {{nom}} |- | Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming | Mathilde Bonnefoy | {{nom}} |- |}
At DOK Leipzig 2014, when ''Citizenfour'' won the Leipziger Ring award, Edward Snowden gave a video message to the festival.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/festival-news/?lang=en&start:int=14 |title=Snowden honors the peaceful revolution in Leipzig |publisher=DOK Leipzig |date=October 28, 2014}}</ref>
''Citizenfour'' won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2015 |title=The 87th Academy Awards |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=February 22, 2015}}</ref> It was considered the frontrunner heading into the awards;<ref name=nyff1>{{citation|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/new-york-film-fest-citizenfour-740118 |title=New York Film Fest: 'Citizenfour' Hacks Way to Top of Uber-Competitive Doc Oscar Race|date=October 10, 2014|first=Scott|last=Feinberg|work=The Hollywood Reporter}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/15/edward-snowden-film-citizenfour-oscar-documentary-category|title=Oscars 2015: Edward Snowden film Citizenfour leads pack in Oscar documentary category|author=Ben Beaumont-Thomas|date=January 15, 2015 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.oddschecker.com/awards/oscars/best-documentary-feature|title=Oscars – Best Documentary Feature Betting Odds|access-date=January 24, 2015 |publisher=Oddschecker.com}} reports Citizenfour as a 3:13 favourite according to online bookmakers.</ref> Brent Lang of ''Variety'' called for ''Citizenfour'' to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture,<ref>{{citation|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/why-citizenfour-deserves-a-best-picture-oscar-nomination-1201357825/|first=Brent|last=Lang|title=Why 'Citizenfour' Deserves a Best Picture Oscar Nomination|date=November 19, 2014 }}</ref> with ''THR''{{'}}s Gregg Kilday discussing its prospects,<ref>{{citation|title=Oscars: Can Edward Snowden Doc 'Citizenfour' Break the Best-Picture Curse? |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-can-edward-snowden-doc-753206|work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=December 3, 2014}}</ref> but it was not nominated in that category.
Poitras also received several journalistic and humanitarian awards for reporting the Snowden disclosures depicted in the film, including the George Polk award (with Greenwald and MacAskill),<ref>{{cite web|title=2013 GEORGE POLK AWARD WINNERS|url=http://www.liu.edu/About/News/Polk/Previous.aspx#2013|publisher=Long Island University|access-date=March 2, 2014}}</ref> the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize (with Edward Snowden)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_truth-telling_2014b.html|title=The Ridenhour Prizes – Fostering the spirit of courage and truth|author=Ridenhour Prizes|publisher=Ridenhour.org|access-date=October 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226110738/http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_truth-telling_2014b.html|archive-date=February 26, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for human rights (with Greenwald and Snowden),<ref>{{citation|url=http://ilmr.de/2014/english-material-invitation-for-the-ceremonial-act-carl-von-ossietzky-medal-2014-sunday-dec-14th-11-h-urania-berlin|title=English Material: Invitation for the Ceremonial act Carl-von-Ossietzky-Medal 2014|publisher=Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte (International league for human rights)|date=December 10, 2014|place=Berlin}}</ref> and the Henri Nannen Prize for Efforts for Independence of the Press.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.bertelsmann.com/corporate-responsibility/projects/project/henri-nannen-award-for-efforts-for-independence-of-the-press.jsp|title = Henri Nannen Award for Efforts for Independence of the Press|date = May 8, 2014|access-date = June 7, 2014|website = Bertelsmann.com|publisher = Bertelsmann|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150923183903/http://www.bertelsmann.com/corporate-responsibility/projects/project/henri-nannen-award-for-efforts-for-independence-of-the-press.jsp|archive-date = September 23, 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' and ''The Washington Post'' received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting by Poitras, Greenwald, MacAskill, and Barton Gellman.<ref name="pulitzer prize">{{cite press release | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/14/guardian-washington-post-pulitzer-nsa-revelations | title=Guardian and Washington Post win Pulitzer prize for NSA revelations|work=The Guardian| date=April 14, 2014|access-date=October 22, 2014}}</ref>
==See also== * List of films featuring surveillance * Previous films in trilogy: ''My Country, My Country'' (2006) and ''The Oath'' (2010) * ''No Place to Hide'', book by Glenn Greenwald about the Snowden disclosures, including the events depicted in the film * ''Snowden'', a film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt that depicts parts of the production of ''Citizenfour''
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://citizenfourfilm.com/}} * {{IMDb title|4044364}} * {{mojo title|citizenfour|Citizenfour}} * {{rotten-tomatoes|citizenfour|Citizenfour}} * {{Metacritic film|title=Citizenfour}}
{{Navboxes |title = Awards for ''Citizenfour'' |list = {{Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film}} {{BAFTA Award for Best Documentary}} {{Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film}} {{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Documentary Film}} {{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film}} {{EmmyAward Documentary Filmmaking}} {{Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary}} {{Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature}} {{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film}} {{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction Film}} {{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film}} {{San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award for Best Documentary Film}} {{Satellite Award Best Documentary Film}} }} {{Laura Poitras}}
Category:2014 films Category:2014 documentary films Category:2014 American films Category:2014 English-language films Category:American documentary films Category:American independent films Category:Articles containing video clips Category:BAFTA winners (films) Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Category:Cultural depictions of Edward Snowden Category:Documentary films about American politics Category:Edward Snowden Category:English-language documentary films Category:Films about security and surveillance Category:Films about whistleblowing Category:Films directed by Laura Poitras Category:Films set in Berlin Category:Global surveillance Category:HBO documentary films Category:Participant (company) films Category:Primetime Emmy Award–winning broadcasts Category:Satellite Award–winning films