Saturday 28 May 2016 > français
“Risk” the new documentary by Laura Poitras (video interview).
At Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight, the documentary by Laura Poitras was screened two years after the release of her previous film “Citizenfour” retracing the revelations of Edward Snowden on the illegal wiretapping worldwide program of the NSA (National Agency Security). The American journalist and filmmaker got numerous awards including the Oscar Best Documentary in 2015 for this film .
Citizenfour was a film about surveillance but it was especially a film about someone who put his life at stake to denounce what he considered something wrong, which gives it a more universal dimension.
“Risk” is the work that Laura Poitras has started for several years on WikiLeaks, an independent organization created in 2006 to disclose confidential information gathered by the launchers alert. Julian Assange has become as revelations progressed a highly dangerous hacktivist for many governments, including the United States.
“Risk” it is not only Julian Assange. It is different from Citizenfour because it is a organization of whistleblowers. It is not just one person but a publishing structure that takes a lot of risks. It’s about risks that people are willing to take and their consequences.
Laura Poitras shows the highly tensed lives of these activists. Indeed, ther is the fear of being listened to, spied on, threatened and coerced, sometimes to exile as Sarah Harrison and Jacob Appelbaum, WikiLeaks tireless soldiers, wearing their eyes and their existence on their computers screen.
By looking at how people manage these risks we can hope to understand what is at stake and wonder if the unveiling of the truth matters.
