WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The winner was announced at the 87th Academy Awards in Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on Sunday night. This was the second Academy Award nomination for Poitras.
Thanks to the @filmindependent #SpiritAwards, #CITIZENFOUR won Best Documentary.
— CITIZENFOUR (@citizenfour) February 21, 2015
Citizenfour centers around whistleblower Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. In January 2013, Poitras received an encrypted e-mail from a stranger who called himself Citizen Four.
"When the most important decisions are made in secret, we lose our ability to check the powers that control." pic.twitter.com/MZWZK3JYwC
— CITIZENFOUR (@citizenfour) February 23, 2015
Accompanied by investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian intelligence reporter Ewen MacAskill, the documentarian traveled to Hong Kong in the summer for the first of many meetings with Snowden.
All of us. pic.twitter.com/8iIDU4v8Pw
— CITIZENFOUR (@citizenfour) February 16, 2015
The recordings gained from the meetings have become the basis of the film.
How has blowing the whistle effected Snowden's life? http://t.co/96SoS6RSSc
— CITIZENFOUR (@citizenfour) February 19, 2015
Former NSA contractor Snowden started leaking secret documents in 2013, triggering a massive US mass surveillance scandal.
It's all captured onscreen. pic.twitter.com/ZqN5X7At0N
— CITIZENFOUR (@citizenfour) February 14, 2015
The other nominees for the the best Documentary Feature award included "Finding Vivian Maier," "Last Days in Vietnam," "The Salt of the Earth," and "Virunga."
