Citizenfour, the HBO documentary about notorious NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, picked up the Oscar for Best Documentary during Sunday night’s broadcast of the 87th annual Academy Awards.
The documentary, which won the same award at Saturday night’s Independent Spirit Awards, became the second HBO documentary to win an Oscar Sunday night, joining short-subject documentary Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1.
“The fact that he had decided to come forward with his identity allowed me to do it,” Poitras said. It was a rare opportunity. Usually sources of this nature, you never see them. There was no camera when Ellsberg was copying the Pentagon Papers, there was no camera there when Woodward was in the basement garage meeting with Deep Throat. But I actually had that kind of opportunity, so that’s what motivated me.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Emily Rabinowitz wrote last week that the film makes Snowden out to be “to put it mildly – a heroic figure.” Check out the trailer above.