Laura Poitras
When a lie masquerades as the truth – questions of documentary filmmaking
By Elliott Goat “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” Janet Malcom, The Journalist and the Murderer Hosting a debate on the role of fiction/nonfiction in documentary storytelling, David Wilson, founder of True/False film festival, chaired a panel of past […]
CITIZENFOUR: Snooping and security
By Max Hallam On Wednesday 29 October, the Frontline Club held a special preview screening of documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras’s new film CITIZENFOUR ahead of its UK cinematic release on Friday 31 October. While working on a documentary trilogy about post 9/11 America, Poitras began to receive encrypted emails from a subject known only as […]
Preview Screening: CITIZENFOUR
In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was several years into the making of a film about abuses of national security in post-9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted emails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four”, who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programmes run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. He turned out to be Edward Snowden. The film that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely unique in the history of cinema: a 100% real-life thriller unfolding minute-by-minute before our eyes.
1971: The year they took the truth
By George Symonds “J. Edgar Hoover was apoplectic.” On Monday 29 September 2014, the Frontline Club screened 1971, the incredible story of eight US citizens whose courage – both moral and physical – led them to break into an FBI office to confiscate evidence of the bureau’s grave abuses of power. The self-incriminating documents revealed the existence of […]
Filming the Unfilmable: Between The Lines Evening of Shorts
By Antonia Roupell Between the Lines Follow-Up Events once more succeeded in showcasing a diverse range of films at the Frontline Club on the 25th October. Each of the five documentaries opened a window onto a subject rarely documented from places like North Korea, Yemen and Iraq. Multimedia journalist, Adrian Branco and filmmakers Jason Lee and Tim Travers Hawkins were present […]