New documentary, Citizenfour, is witness to Snowden NSA leak

A new documentary captures Edward Snowden’s leak of NSA documents as it unfolds from the vantage point of his Hong Kong hotel room.

Laura Poitras’ highly anticipated documentary “Citizenfour” premiered Friday night at the New York Film Festival. The one-of-a-kind film presents a remarkably intimate portrait of Snowden, including his first meetings with the journalists with whom he would share thousands of documents revealing the previously undisclosed collection of Americans’ phone and email records by the National Security Agency.

Initially communicating under the alias Citizenfour, Snowden reached out to Poitras, a hybrid journalist-documentarian, and Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald.

From the beginning, Snowden is seen as highly aware that such a leak would mean sacrificing his own freedom. He says, “I already know how this will end for me.”