Monday Night Film Series: CITIZENFOUR

In January 2013, Laura Poitras (recipient of the 2012 MacArthur Genius Fellowship and co-recipient of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service) was several years into making a film about surveillance in the post-9/11 era 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 NSA and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she and Greenwald fl ew to Hong Kong for the fi rst of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The fi lm that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely sui generis in the history of cinema: a 100% real-life thriller unfolding minute by minute before our eyes.

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. Nominated for Academy Award for Best Documentary and winner of Golden Globe for same.

Citizenfour | Monday Night Film Series | Tilley Hall, Room 102, UNB Campus | March 16, 2015 – 7:30pm