Amy Goodman
@DemocracyNow·3.2M subscribers·19.4K videos
Laura Poitras on the Sacrifices Whistleblowers Make to Inform the American Public
Posted
February 20, 2015
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950
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February 20, 2015
950
14
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0:33Now PlayingA highlight from Amy Goodman's interview with filmmaker Laura Poitras about the making of “Citizenfour,” her documentary about Edward Snowden. Watch the full interview
"At this stage I can offer nothing more than my word. I am a senior government employee in the intelligence community. I hope you understand that contacting you is extremely high risk … This will not be a waste of your time." This was one of the first messages Edward Snowden wrote to filmmaker Laura Poitras beginning an exchange that helped expose the massive surveillance apparatus set up by the National Security Agency. Months later, Poitras would meet Snowden for the first time in a Hong Kong hotel room. Poitras filmed more than 20 hours of footage as Snowden debriefed reporters Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. That footage — most unseen until now — forms the backbone of Poitras’ new film, "Citizenfour." She joins us to talk about the film and her own experience with government surveillance.
“Why is it that people have to make these sacrifices for the public to know what our government is doing? I think that that’s the real question,” Poitras asks.
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