Edward Snowden wants Americans to know we’re being watched in the first trailer from the documentary, “Citizenfour.”
It begins with the doc’s Oscar-nominated director Laura Poitras reading a message from Snowden.
It reads, “I am a senior government employee in the intelligence community. I hope you understand that contacting you was extremely high-risk.”
Also read: Edward Snowden Documentary ‘Citizenfour’ to Premiere at NY Film Festival
Attached, she’d find a myriad of top-secret documents stolen by the NSA contractor in 2013. They would hold the evidence of deep and far-reaching government surveillance of American citizens.
Poitras has an ongoing relationship with Snowden, who began anonymously emailing her in January 2013, when she was working on a film about enhanced national security measures after 9/11. Identifying himself only as “citizen four,” he offered information on security abuses, which led to a series of on-camera interviews with Snowden in Hong Kong (where he fled after stealing the documents).
See video: NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams He’s a Patriot, Wants to Come Home
Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh (“Ocean’s Eleven,” “Traffic”), the documentary has been billed as powerful and chilling.
Watch the 90-second trailer above.
“Citizenfour” debuted at the New York Film Festival on Friday. It will get a wide release on Friday, Oct. 24.