In 2015, the Edward Snowden tell-all Citizenfour swept half a dozen filmmaking awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Director Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald ended awards season with a bang, advocating for American privacy rights in their acceptance speech, releasing Citizenfour for free on HBO Go, and sweetening the deal with a Reddit AMA alongside the subject of their film, Snowden himself. While the bulk of the comments was informative discussions about protecting personal data and the political issues raised in the movie, there were also several nuggets of wisdom about the artful filmmaking and reporting that earned Poitras and Greenwald their serious collection of statues. Below, here are five tips on craft from the Oscar-winning duo:
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1. Be a Journalist and an Artist
Laura Poitras: "I definitely consider myself a journalist, as well as an artist and a filmmaker. In my mind, it's not a question about whether I am one or the other. Documentary films needs to do more than journalism—they need to communicate something that is more universal."
2. Commit to Your Sources
Laura Poitras: "When Ed contacted me in early 2013 I gave him my assurance I would never comply with a subpoena. Before going to Hong Kong I met with many lawyers to assess the risk. I ignored some of the warnings—for instance the Washington Post urged me not to travel to Hong Kong. Another lawyer said not to bring my camera. In the end I decided I could not live with the decision to not travel to Hong Kong."
3. Encrypt Everything
Laura Poitras: "It would have been impossible for us to work on the NSA stories and make Citizenfour without many encryption tools that allowed us to communicate more securely. In fact, in the credits we thank several free software projects for making it all possible."
4. Cut Everything Unnecessary from Your Film, Even If It's Good
Laura Poitras: "I do plan to release more footage from Hong Kong shoot. On the first day we met Ed, Glenn conducted a long interview (4-5 hours) that is extraordinary. I also conducted a separate interview with Ed re: technical questions. The time constraints of a feature film made it impossible to include everything. I will release more."I also filmed incredible footage with Julian Assange/WikiLeaks that we realized in the edit room was a separate film.
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5. Results Come Slowly, No Matter How Relevant Your Subject
Boingeh: "Don't you find it kind of depressing how little the world was actually moved by the revelations?"Glenn Greenwald: "I think much has changed. The US Government hasn't restricted its own power, but it's unrealistic to expect them to do so.There are now court cases possible challenging the legality of this surveillance—one federal court in the US and a British court just recently found this spying illegal.Social media companies like Facebook and Apple are being forced by their users to install encryption and other technological means to prevent surveillance, which is a significant barrier.Nations around the world (such as Brazil and Germany) are working together in unison to prevent US hegemony over the internet and to protect the privacy of their own citizens.And, most of all, because people now realize the extent to which their privacy is being compromised, they can—and increasingly are—using encryption and anonymizers to protect their own privacy and physically prevent mass surveillance (see here).All of these changes are very significant. And that's to say nothing of the change in consciousness around the world about how hundreds of millions of people think about these issues. The story has been, and continues to be, huge in many countries outside the US."
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