Laura Poitras

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Laura Poitras is the middle daughter of Patricia "Pat" and James "Jim" Poitras,{{cite news |last=Karagianis |first=Liz |date=Spring 2008 |title=Fulfilling a Dream |url=http://spectrum.mit.edu/articles/fulfilling-a-dream-2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023845/http://spectrum.mit.edu/articles/fulfilling-a-dream-2/ |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=February 17, 2014 |work=MIT Spectrum |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}} who in 2007 donated $20 million{{cite news |author=Neyfakh |first=Leon |date=October 27, 2014 |title=Filmmaker focuses on Edward Snowden, his leaks |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/10/26/the-woman-who-documented-edward-snowden/pP0uAAUjFKc4aiqQiTPbCM/story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202214205/https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/10/26/the-woman-who-documented-edward-snowden/pP0uAAUjFKc4aiqQiTPbCM/story.html |archive-date=2023-12-02 |access-date=November 7, 2014 |newspaper=The Boston Globe}} to found The Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at McGovern Institute for Brain Research, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Growing up, Laura planned to become a chef, and spent several years as a cook at L'Espalier, a French restaurant located in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. However, after finishing Sudbury Valley School, she moved to San Francisco and lost interest in becoming a chef. Instead she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with experimental filmmakers Ernie Gehr{{Cite web|date=2011-03-30|title=Laura Poitras Receives Segal Prize|url=https://www.filmlinc.org/daily/laura-poitras-receives-segal-prize/|access-date=2021-11-14|website=Film at Lincoln Center|language=en}} and Janis Crystal Lipzin.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}} In 1992, Poitras moved to New York to pursue filmmaking.{{cite podcast |url=http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201410210900 |title='Citizenfour' Tells the Story of NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden |date=October 21, 2014 |access-date=October 21, 2014 |last1=Krasny |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Krasny (talk show host) |website=Forum |publisher=KQED-FM |publication-place=San Francisco}} In 1996, she graduated from The New School for Public Engagement with a bachelor's degree.{{cite web |title=Laura Poitras: Secret No Longer |date=August 14, 2013 |url=http://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2013/08/laura-poitras-secret-no-longer/ |access-date=August 14, 2013}}

Poitras co-directed, produced, and shot with Linda Goode Bryant her documentary, Flag Wars (2003), about gentrification in Columbus, Ohio. It is an "intriguing sociopolitical docu".{{cite news|author=Joe Leydon|date=March 31, 2003|title=Flag Wars|url=https://variety.com/2003/film/reviews/flag-wars-1200542451/|access-date=February 1, 2025|work=}} It received a Peabody Award, Best Documentary at both the 2003 South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, and the Filmmaker Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. The film launched the 2003 season of the PBS TV series POV. It was nominated for a 2004 Independent Spirit Award and a 2004 Emmy Award.{{cite news|author=ZEIT ONLINE GmbH, Hamburg, Germany|date=August 19, 2013|title=NSA-Affäre: Die Berliner Snowden-Connection|url=http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2013-08/miranda-berlin-london-rio-greenwald|access-date=October 22, 2014|work=ZEIT ONLINE}} Poitras's other early films include O' Say Can You See... (2003) and Exact Fantasy (1995).

Her film My Country, My Country (2006), about life for Iraqis under U.S. occupation, was nominated for an Academy Award. The Oath (2010), concerns two Yemeni men caught up in America's War on Terror, won the Excellence in Cinematography Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

{{cite news

|url = http://beyondthebox.org/the-oath-honored-at-the-sundance-film-festival/

|title = The Oath Honored at the Sundance Film Festival

|publisher = Beyond the Box

|date = October 20, 2001

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101128112442/http://beyondthebox.org/the-oath-honored-at-the-sundance-film-festival/

|archive-date = November 28, 2010

|url-status = dead

|df = mdy-all

}} The two films form parts of a trilogy. The last third Citizenfour (2014) details how the War on Terror increasingly focuses on Americans through surveillance, covert activities, and attacks on whistleblowers.

File:Laura Poitras - PopTech 2010 - Camden, Maine.jpg

On August 22, 2012, in a forum of short documentaries produced by independent filmmakers, The New York Times published an "Op-doc" produced by Poitras entitled The Program.Poitras, Laura, [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.html The Program], New York Times Op-Docs, August 22, 2012{{cite web

| url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-3K3rkPRE

| title =NSA Whistle-Blower Tells All: The Program

| last1 =Poitras

| first1 =Laura

| date =August 29, 2012

| editor =Op-Docs

| publisher =Uploaded by The New York Times via YouTube

| access-date =October 21, 2014

| quote =The filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency who helped design a top-secret program he says is broadly collecting Americans' personal data.}} It was preliminary work that was to be included in a documentary planned for release as the final part of the trilogy. The documentary was based on interviews with William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency, who became a whistleblower and described the details of the Stellar Wind project that he helped to design. He stated that the program he worked on had been designed for foreign espionage, but was converted in 2001 to spying on citizens in the United States, prompting concerns by him and others that the actions were illegal and unconstitutional and that led to their disclosures.

The Program implied that a facility being built at Bluffdale, Utah is part of domestic surveillance, intended for storage of massive amounts of data collected from a broad range of communications that could be mined readily for intelligence without warrants. Poitras reported that on October 29, 2012 the United States Supreme Court would hear arguments regarding the constitutionality of the amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that were used to authorize the creation of such facilities and justify such actions.

In 2012, Poitras took an active part in the three-month exposition of Whitney Biennial exhibition of contemporary American art.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/arts/design/2012-whitney-biennial.html | title=A Survey of a Different Color 2012 Whitney Biennial | newspaper=NY Times | date=March 1, 2012 | access-date=March 5, 2012 | author=Roberta Smith}}

Poitras has been subject to monitoring by the U.S. government, which she speculates is because of a wire transfer she sent in 2006 to Riyadh al-Adhadh, the Iraqi medical doctor and Sunni political candidate who was the subject of her 2006 documentary My Country, My Country.{{cite magazine |last=Packer |first=George |date=October 20, 2014 |title=The Holder of Secrets: Laura Poitras's closeup view of Edward Snowden |department=Profiles |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=90 |issue=32 |pages=50–59 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/holder-secrets |access-date=February 10, 2015 |quote=Then again, [Poitras] told me, the trigger may have been a wire transfer that she sent in 2006 to Dr. Riyadh when his family fled Iraq’s civil war. [Journalist John] Bruning's book claims that the battalion suspected the doctor of being an insurgent. (There is no evidence for this, either.)}} After completing My Country, My Country, Poitras claims, "I've been placed on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) watch list" and have been notified by airport security "that my 'threat rating' was the highest the Department of Homeland Security assigns".{{cite web |title =My Country, My Country. Film Synopsis |work = PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/mycountry/about.html |access-date=May 27, 2007}} She says her work has been hampered by constant harassment by border agents during more than three dozen border crossings into and out of the United States. She has been detained for hours and interrogated and agents have seized her computer, cell phone and reporters notes and not returned them for weeks. Once she was threatened with being refused entry back into the United States.{{citation |url=http://www.salon.com/2012/04/08/u_s_filmmaker_repeatedly_detained_at_border/singleton/ |author=Glenn Greenwald |title=U.S. filmmaker repeatedly detained at border |date=April 8, 2012 |work=Salon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408193016/http://www.salon.com/2012/04/08/u_s_filmmaker_repeatedly_detained_at_border/singleton/ |archive-date=2012-04-08 |access-date=2016-05-02 }} In response to a Glenn Greenwald article on this issue, a group of film directors began a petition to protest against the government's actions towards her.Mike Flemming, [https://deadline.com/2012/04/documentary-directors-protest-homeland-security-treatment-of-helmer-laura-poitras-254291/ Documentary Directors Protest Homeland Security Treatment Of Helmer Laura Poitras], Deadline Hollywood, April 9, 2012. In April 2012, Poitras was interviewed about surveillance on Democracy Now! and called elected leaders' behavior "shameful".{{Citation|last=Democracy Now!|title=More Secrets on State Surveillance: Exclusive Part 2 With NSA Whistleblower, Targeted Hacker|publisher=Democracy Now! via YouTube |date=2012-04-23|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DS4nFy1NXA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/3DS4nFy1NXA |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|access-date=2016-05-03}}{{cbignore}}[http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/23/more_secrets_on_growing_state_surveillance More Secrets on Growing State Surveillance: Exclusive Part 2 with NSA Whistleblower, Targeted Hacker], Democracy Now!, video and transcript, April 23, 2012.

In January 2014, Poitras filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act{{Cite web|title=Poitras FOIA Complaint |date=July 13, 2015 |url=https://www.eff.org/document/poitras-foia-complaint|access-date=2015-07-14}} to learn the reason for being searched, detained and interrogated on multiple occasions.{{Cite web|title='Citizenfour' Director Laura Poitras Sues Over "Kafkaesque" Airport Screening|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/citizenfour-director-laura-poitras-sues-808444|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=July 13, 2015 |access-date=2015-07-14}} After receiving no response to her FOIA request, Poitras filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice and other security agencies in July 2015.{{Cite web|title=Oscar-Winner Laura Poitras Sues After U.S Ignores FOIA Request|date=July 13, 2015 |url=https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/13/laura-poitras-sues-u-s-government-find-repeatedly-stopped-border/|access-date=2015-07-14}} More than a year later, Poitras received 1,000+ pages of material from the federal government. The documents indicate that Poitras's repeated detainments were due to U.S. government suspicion that she had prior knowledge of a 2004 ambush on U.S. troops in Iraq, an allegation Poitras denies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2017/04/17/filmmaker-laura-poitras-finally-learns-why-she-endured-airport-stops-for-years.html|title=Filmmaker Laura Poitras finally learns why she endured airport stops for years |work=Toronto Star|date=April 17, 2017 |access-date=2017-04-18}}

File:PRISM - Snowden Interview - Laura Poitras HQ.webm

In 2013, Poitras was one of the initial three journalists to meet Edward Snowden in Hong Kong and to receive copies of leaked NSA documents.{{cite news|last=Maass|first=Peter|title=How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html|access-date=August 18, 2013|newspaper=NYTimes|date=August 18, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://truth-out.org/news/item/20983-edward-snowden-evolved-from-gaming-geek-to-conscientious-whistleblower-how-a-high-tech-spy-came-in-from-the-cold|title=Edward Snowden Evolved From Gaming Geek to Conscientious Whistleblower|author=patty|work=Truthout|date=January 3, 2014 |access-date=October 22, 2014}} Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald are the only two people with full archives of Snowden's leaked NSA documents, according to Greenwald.{{cite news|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-security-snowden-brazil-idUKBRE97600R20130807|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305080328/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-security-snowden-brazil-idUKBRE97600R20130807|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 5, 2016|title=New U.S. spying revelations coming from Snowden leaks -journalist|work=Reuters UK|first=Anthony|last=Boadle|date=August 7, 2013|access-date=August 7, 2013}}

Poitras helped to produce stories exposing previously secret U.S. intelligence activities, which earned her the 2013 Polk award{{cite web|title=2013 George Polk Award Winners|url=https://liu.edu/George-Polk-Awards/Past-Winners#2013|work=Long Island University|access-date=April 13, 2020}} and contributed to the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded jointly to The Guardian and The Washington Post.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}{{Cite book|last=Harris Jr|first=Roy J.|title=Pulitzer's Gold: A Century of Public Service Journalism|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2015}} She later worked with Jacob Appelbaum and writers and editors at Der Spiegel to cover disclosures about mass surveillance, particularly those relating to NSA activity in Germany.John Lubbock (October 2013), [https://www.vice.com/en/article/jacob-appelbaum-utopia-interview/ Jacob Appelbaum's Utopia] Vice: Motherboard[http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205-3.html Embassy Espionage: The NSA's Secret Spy Hub in Berlin] Der Spiegel October 27, 2013 She later revealed in her documentary Risk that she had a brief romantic relationship with Appelbaum.Zeitchik, Stephen. [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-laura-poitras-risk-20170505-story.html Perspective With Laura Poitras' re-cut 'Risk,' a director controversially changes her mind about Julian Assange], Los Angeles Times. May 6, 2017.

She filmed, edited, and produced Channel 4's alternative to the Royal Christmas Message by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013, the "Alternative Christmas Message", featuring Edward Snowden.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/24/edward-snowden-channel-4-christmas-day-message|title=Edward Snowden broadcasts Channel 4's alternative Christmas Day message|author=Peter Walker|work=the Guardian|date=December 24, 2013 |access-date=October 22, 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alternative-christmas-message/4od|title=Alternative Christmas Message|publisher=Channel4.com|access-date=October 22, 2014}}

In October 2013, Poitras joined with reporters Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill to establish an on-line investigative journalism publishing venture funded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar,[http://www.democracynow.org/2013/12/5/there_is_a_war_on_journalism '"There is a War on Journalism": on NSA Leaks & New Investigative Reporting Venture'], Democracy Now!, December 5, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013. which became First Look Media. Omidyar's "concern about press freedoms in the US and around the world" sparked the idea for the new media outlet.[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/16/pierre-omidyar-ebay-glenn-greenwald 'Pierre Omidyar commits $250m to new media venture with Glenn Greenwald'], The Guardian, October 16, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2014. The first publication from that group, a digital magazine called The Intercept, launched on February 10, 2014.{{cite news|last=Russell|first=Jon|title=The Intercept, the first online publication from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, is now live|url=https://thenextweb.com/media/2014/02/10/the-intercept-the-first-online-publication-from-ebay-founder-pierre-omidyar-is-now-live/|access-date=February 10, 2014|newspaper=The Next Web|date=February 10, 2014}} Poitras stood down from her editorial role in September 2016 to focus on Field of Vision, a First Look Media project focused on non-fiction films.{{cite news |last=Poitras |first=Laura |date=September 20, 2016 |title=Field of Vision Is Moving |url=https://theintercept.com/2016/09/20/field-of-vision-is-moving/ |newspaper=The Intercept |access-date=January 12, 2017 }}

On March 21, 2014, Poitras joined Greenwald and Barton Gellman via Skype on a panel at the Sources and Secrets Conference to discuss the legal and professional threats to journalists covering national security surveillance and whistleblower stories, like that of Edward Snowden. Poitras was asked if she would hazard an entry into the United States and she responded that she planned to attend an April 11 event, regardless of the legal or professional threats posed by US authorities.{{cite web|title="Sources and Secrets: A Conference on the Press, the Government and National Security" The Times Center presented by the George Polk Awards and hosted by The New York Times, in cooperation with CUNY TV, the Media Law Resource Center, and the Media Law Resource Center Institute. C-Span. New York City|date=March 21, 2014|access-date=April 1, 2014|url= http://www.c-span.org/video/?318416-7/edward-snowden-revelations|publisher=C-span.org}} Poitras and Greenwald returned to the US to receive their awards unimpeded.{{cite web|title=Video: Laura Poitras & Glenn Greenwald Back in U.S. for First Time Since Breaking NSA-Snowden Story|url=http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/4/11/video_laura_poitras_glenn_greenwald_return|work=Democracy Now|access-date=April 15, 2014}}{{cite news|title=Journalists Who Broke News on N.S.A. Surveillance Return to the U.S.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/business/journalists-who-broke-news-on-nsa-surveillance-return-to-the-us.html|work=NYT|date=April 12, 2014 |access-date=April 15, 2014|last1=Somaiya |first1=Ravi |last2=Cohen |first2=Noam }}

In May 2014, Poitras was reunited with Snowden in Moscow along with Greenwald.{{cite web|title=Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden And Laura Poitras Reunite for a Selfie in Moscow|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/22/glenn-greenwald-edward-snowden-selfie-poitras-moscow_n_5371736.html|work=Huffington Post|date=May 22, 2014 |access-date=June 6, 2014}}

In September 2021, Yahoo! News reported that in 2017, after the publication of the Vault 7 files, "top intelligence officials lobbied the White House" to designate Poitras as an "information broker" to allow for more investigative tools against her, "potentially paving the way" for her prosecution. However, the White House rejected this idea. Poitras told Yahoo! News that such attempts were "bone-chilling and a threat to journalists worldwide."{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london-shoot-out-inside-the-ci-as-secret-war-plans-against-wiki-leaks-090057786.html |title=Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=26 September 2021 |accessdate=26 September 2021 |last1=Dorfman |first1=Zach |last2=Naylor |first2=Sean D. |last3=Isikoff |first3=Michael}}

1971 is a documentary film co-produced by Poitras.{{cite news|last=Benzine|first=Adam|title=Laura Poitras backs FBI break-in doc|url=http://realscreen.com/2014/01/20/sundance-14-laura-poitras-backs-fbi-break-in-doc/|access-date=May 11, 2014|newspaper=Realscreen|date=January 20, 2014}} The film, about the 1971 Media, Pennsylvania raid of FBI offices, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2014.{{cite web|title="1971" – Tribeca Film Festival|url=http://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/53208a7fc07f5df7d20005a0-1971|website=Tribeca Film Festival official website|publisher=Tribeca Institute|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014051611/http://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/53208a7fc07f5df7d20005a0-1971|archive-date=October 14, 2014|df=mdy-all}}

{{main|Citizenfour}}

File:Laura Poitras - Citizen Four.jpg in NYC on opening night]]

File:CITIZENFOUR (2014) trailer.webm

Citizenfour is a documentary about Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, who had leaked classified information about the agency's surveillance practices to the media after working in Geneva. Poitras was one of the journalists who worked with Snowden to publicize the information along with journalist Glenn Greenwald.{{cite news |url=https://citizenfourfilm.com/about |title= CITIZENFOUR About |date= 2014 | agency=Citizenfourfilm }} The movie premiered on October 10, 2014, at New York Film Festival. In 2014, Poitras told the Associated Press she was editing the film in Berlin because she feared her source material would be seized by the government inside the U.S.{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/snowden-documentary-premiere-ny-festival-25541267 |title=Snowden Documentary to Premiere at NY Festival |date=July 1, 2013 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=ABC News}} Film executive Harvey Weinstein said Citizenfour had changed his opinion about Edward Snowden, describing the documentary as "one of the best movies, period."{{cite news |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harvey-weinstein-edward-snowdens-citizenfour-744007 |title=Harvey Weinstein on Edward Snowden's 'Citizenfour': "It Changed My Opinion of Him" |date=October 27, 2014 |agency=Hollywood Reporter }}

In an interview with The Washington Post about Citizenfour shortly before the film's release, Poitras said that she considered herself to be the narrator of the film but made a choice not to be seen on camera:

"I come from a filmmaking tradition where I'm using the camera—it's my lens to express the filmmaking I do. In the same way that a writer uses their language, for me it's the images that tell the story ... the camera is my tool for documenting things, so I stay mostly behind it."{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/10/23/snowden-filmmaker-laura-poitras-facebook-is-a-gift-to-intelligence-agencies/ |title=Snowden filmmaker Laura Poitras: 'Facebook is a gift to intelligence agencies' |date=October 23, 2014 |newspaper=Washington Post}}

Poitras is portrayed by actress Melissa Leo in the biographical drama film Snowden (2016), directed by Oliver Stone, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden.

Poitras's solo exhibition, Astro Noise, opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in February 2016, portraying immersive environments that incorporate documentary footage, architectural interventions, primary documents, and narrative structures to invite visitors to interact with the material gathered by Poitras in strikingly intimate and direct ways.{{cite magazine |first=Clare |last=Foran |title='Astro Noise': When Mass Surveillance Is Art |magazine=The Atlantic |date=10 Feb 2016 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/laura-poitras-whitney-surveillance/460359/}}

{{main|Risk_(2016_film)|l1=Risk}}

Poitras authored a documentary called Risk, on the life of Julian Assange. According to Variety, the film shows Assange is "willing to put everything on the line, risking imprisonment and worse to publish information he believes the public has a right to know".

Poitras and others described Assange's statements about women as "troubling".{{Cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-laura-poitras-risk-20170505-story.html|title=With Laura Poitras' re-cut 'Risk,' a director controversially changes her mind about Julian Assange|last=Zeitchik|first=Steven|date=6 May 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=9 May 2017|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2017/film/news/julian-assange-documentary-risk-wikileaks-laura-poitras-1202406948/|title='Risk' Director Laura Poitras on Her Explosive Julian Assange Documentary|last=Lang|first=Brent|date=3 May 2017|work=Variety|access-date=9 May 2017|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/05/julian-assange-is-not-ready-for-his-close-up/|title=Julian Assange Is Not Ready for His Close Up|website=Foreign Policy|date=May 5, 2017 |access-date=9 May 2017}} Assange alleges in the film that he is the victim of a radical feminist conspiracy over his being wanted for questioning on sexual assault allegations by the Swedish authorities. In the film, he argues that one of the women in question had potentially alternate motivation because she founded Gothenburg’s largest lesbian nightclub. According to Poitras, Assange disapproved of the film because it included scenes showing his "troubling relationship with women".

In May 2017, WikiLeaks' four lawyers publicly wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek stating that the film serves to undermine WikiLeaks at a time when the Trump administration announced that it intends to prosecute journalists, editors and associates of WikiLeaks. The lawyers also scrutinize the way in which Poitras changed the film after its premiere in 2016 as well as other critical aspects.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/wikileaks-attorneys-blast-citizenfour-maker-poitras-610362/|title=WikiLeaks attorneys blast Citizen Four maker Poitras|work=Newsweek|date=May 17, 2017 |access-date=4 April 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-laura-poitras-risk-20170505-story.html|title=Perspective: With Laura Poitras' re-cut 'Risk', a director controversially changes her mind about Julian Assange|date=May 6, 2017 |accessdate=March 1, 2025}}

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a 2022 documentary film which examines the life and career of photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her efforts to hold Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, accountable for the opioid epidemic. Goldin, a well known photographer whose work often documented the LGBT subcultures and the HIV/AIDS crisis, founded the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) in 2017 after her own addiction to Oxycontin. P.A.I.N. specifically targets museums and other arts institutions to hold the art community accountable for its collaboration with the Sackler family and their well publicized financial support of the arts. The film was directed by Poitras.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2022/film/markets-festivals/laura-poitras-all-the-beauty-and-the-bloodshed-new-york-film-festival-centerpiece-1235333428/|title=Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Tapped as New York Film Festival Centerpiece Selection |work=Variety |first1=Brent|last1=Lang|date=August 4, 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/08/05/laura-poitras-nan-goldin-sackler-documentary-new-york-film-festival|title=Laura Poitras documentary on Nan Goldin's campaign against the Sacklers to show at New York Film Festival |last=Sutton |first=Benjamin |date=August 5, 2022|website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}} Poitras said, "Nan's art and vision has inspired my work for years, and has influenced generations of filmmakers."{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/laura-poitras-doc-all-the-beauty-and-the-bloodshed-released-neon-1235201896/ |title=Neon Acquires Laura Poitras Doc All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | website=The Hollywood Reporter |last=Kilkenny |first=Katie |date=August 18, 2022 |access-date=August 19, 2022}} The film premiered on September 3, 2022, at the 79th Venice International Film Festival,{{cite web|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2022/venezia-79-competition/all-beauty-and-bloodshed|title=Biennale Cinema 2022 {{!}} All the Beauty and the Bloodshed|website=La Biennale di Venezia|date=July 20, 2022 |access-date=August 30, 2022}} where it was awarded the Golden Lion making it the second documentary (following Sacro GRA in 2013) to win the top prize at Venice.{{cite news |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/venice-film-festival-winners-2022-1234760259/ |title='All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' wins Golden Lion at Venice: All the Winners |last=Foreman |first=Alison |work=Deadline |date=September 10, 2022 |accessdate=September 10, 2022}} It also will screen at the 2022 New York Film Festival, where it will be the festival's centerpiece film and the official poster will be designed by Goldin.{{cite news |url=https://deadline.com/2022/08/new-york-film-festival-all-the-beauty-and-the-bloodshed-1235085062/ |title=New York Film Festival Selects Laura Poitras Documentary All The Beauty And The Bloodshed As Centerpiece |last=D'Alessandro |first=Anthony |work=Deadline |date=August 4, 2022 |accessdate=August 8, 2022}} The film's distributor, Neon, said that the theatrical release would coincide with a retrospective of Goldin's work at the Moderna Museet, set to open October 29, 2022. The documentary became a Peabody Award winner in June 2024 at the 84th awards ceremony.

• 2008: Creative Capital Award in Moving Image{{cite news | url=http://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/17/project:14 | title=Laura Poitras | publisher=Creative Capital | date=January 10, 2008 | author=Creative Capital | access-date=December 3, 2015 | archive-date=December 8, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208134945/http://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/17/project:14 | url-status=dead }}
• 2010: True Vision Award, True/False Film Festival, Columbia, MO{{cite news | url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/feb/28/picturing-a-better-vision/ | title=Picturing a better vision | publisher=Columbia Tribune | date=February 28, 2010 | author=Jonathon Braden | access-date=February 28, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307081133/http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/feb/28/picturing-a-better-vision/ | archive-date=March 7, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}
• 2010: Anonymous Was A Woman Award{{cite web|url=https://www.anonymouswasawoman.org/previous-recipients/|title=Anonymous Was a Woman Award News|website=www.anonymouswasawoman.org}}
• 2012: MacArthur Fellowship{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/arts/macarthur-fellows-named-for-2012.html | title=Surprise Grants Transforming 23 More Lives | newspaper=The New York Times | date=October 1, 2012 | author=Felicia R. Lee | access-date=October 1, 2012}}{{cite web|title=Laura Poitras – MacArthur Foundation|url=http://www.macfound.org/fellows/874/|access-date=October 4, 2012}}
• 2013: Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award (with three other people){{cite web|url=https://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/2013|title=EFF Pioneer Awards 2013|publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation|access-date=October 6, 2013}}
• 2013: George Polk Award for National Security Reporting (with Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill){{cite web|title=2013 George Polk Award Winners|url=https://liu.edu/George-Polk-Awards/Past-Winners#2013|work=Long Island University|access-date=April 13, 2020}}
• 2014: Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize (with Edward Snowden){{cite web|url=http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_truth-telling_2014b.html|title=The Ridenhour Prizes – Fostering the spirit of courage and truth|author=Ridenhour Prizes|publisher=Ridenhour.org|access-date=October 22, 2014}}
• 2014: Pulitzer Prize for Public Service (awarded to The Washington Post and The Guardian for the NSA reporting on which she worked, along with Barton Gellman, Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill){{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/20/glenn-greenwald-pulitzer-reliable-sources_n_5182297.html|title=Glenn Greenwald Reacts To Pulitzer Prize|date=April 20, 2014|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=October 22, 2014}}{{cite press release | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/14/guardian-washington-post-pulitzer-nsa-revelations | title=Guardian and Washington Post win Pulitzer prize for NSA revelations|work=The Guardian| date=April 14, 2014|first= Ed |last=Pilkington |access-date=April 5, 2017}}
• 2014: Gerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers (awarded to The Washington Post for five stories on the NSA){{cite web|title=UCLA Anderson School of Management Announces 2014 Gerald Loeb Award Winners|url=http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2014/2014-gerald-loeb-awards|website=UCLA Anderson School of Management|date=June 24, 2014|access-date=January 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201120336/http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2014/2014-gerald-loeb-awards|archive-date=February 1, 2019|url-status=dead}}
• 2015: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (for Citizenfour)
• 2015: German Film Award for Best Documentary Film (for Citizenfour){{cite web |url=http://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/fileadmin/FP/daten/b_Download_PM/Liste_Preistraeger_2015.pdf |title=Die Preisträger des deutschen Filmpreises 2015 (German) |work=deutscher-filmpreis.de |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620043107/http://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/fileadmin/FP/daten/b_Download_PM/Liste_Preistraeger_2015.pdf |archive-date=June 20, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}
• 2022: Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival (for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed) {{cite web|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-79th-venice-film-festival|title=Official Awards of the 79th Venice Film Festival|date=September 10, 2022 |access-date=September 10, 2022}}
• 2022: Peabody Award (for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed)

{{Portal|United States|Biography|Film|Journalism}}

• Exact Fantasy (1995)
• Flag Wars (2003)
• Oh Say Can You See... (2003)
• My Country, My Country (2006)
• The Oath (2010)
• Citizenfour (2014)
• Risk (2016)
• The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)
• Terror Contagion (2021){{Cite web |title=Terror Contagion |url=https://macm.org/en/exhibitions/terror-contagion/ |access-date=2022-05-20 |website=MAC Montréal |language=en-US}}
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)

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