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.

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