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      Laura Poitras

      Laura Poitras

      Highest Rated: 100% The Panama Papers (2018)

      Lowest Rated: 20% Convention (2009)

      Birthday: Feb 2, 1964

      Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

      Filmmaker and documentarian Laura Poitras took an unflinching look at life in America and the impact of the war on terror in a series of critically acclaimed and award-winning feature documentaries, including "My Country, My Country" (2006) and "Citizenfour" (2015). Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1964, Poitras initially wanted to become a chef, and trained as a cook at a French restaurant in the city's Back Bay district. However, after graduating from high school at the experimental Sudbury Valley School, her interest turned to filmmaking, which she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute. Poitras completed her higher education at the New School for Public Engagement in 1996. She completed her first film, a short about celebrity obsession titled "Exact Fantasy" (1998) before teaming with filmmaker Laura Goode Bryant to co-direct and produce her first long-form documentary, "Flag Wars" (2003). The film, about a conflict between working-class African-American families and white gay homebuyers in a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood, won a Peabody Award in 2003, as well as an Emmy nomination for its broadcast on the PBS series "POV" (1988- ). In 2006, Poitras began a trilogy of films focusing on the world post-9/11; the first in the series, "My Country, My Country" (2006), about Iraq under the occupation of U.S. forces, was nominated for an Oscar. A follow-up, titled "The Oath" (2010), followed the lives of two Yemeni men who had worked in a peripheral capacity for Osama bin Laden and their lives as prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Like its predecessor, "The Oath" won critical praise, as well as the Excellence in Cinematography Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. But according to Poitras, both films also placed her in the crosshairs of the Department of Homeland Security, which she claimed had monitored her since 2006 and subjected her to wiretaps, watch lists and on several occasions, detainment by government agents. Undaunted by these alleged threats, Poitras commenced work on a series of interviews with former National Security Agency intelligence official William Binney, who claimed that he had been engaged in spying on U.S. citizens at the request of the government since 2001. The interviews, originally intended for a full-length documentary that would complete Poitras' 9/11 documentary, were eventually released as a short film called "The Program" (2012), as part of a forum of independent documentaries sponsored by the New York Times. The following year, Poitras was one of the first three journalists to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong; she received a full set of the documents leaked by Snowden, and later helped to produce a series of stories on U.S. intelligence for the Washington Post and The Guardian, among other newspapers. She reunited with Snowden in 2014, which led to the production of "Citizenfour" (2014), a documentary about his involvement in the spy scandal and Poitras' own interactions with Snowden. The film, which completed her 9/11 trilogy, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2015.

      Photos

      Dirk Wilutzky, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, award for best documentary CITIZENFOUR in the press room for 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards 2015 - Press Room, Santa Monica Beach, Santa Monica, CA February 21, 2015. Photo By: James Atoa/Everett Collection Laura Poitras at arrivals for Film Society Of Lincoln Center: 42nd Annual Chaplin Award Gala, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, New York, NY April 27, 2015. Photo By: Gregorio T. Binuya/Everett Collection Laura Poitras in the press room for 67th Annual Directors Guild of America DGA Awards - Press Room, The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles, CA February 7, 2015. Photo By: Xavier Collin/Everett Collection Laura Poitras in the press room for 67th Annual Directors Guild of America DGA Awards - Press Room, The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles, CA February 7, 2015. Photo By: Xavier Collin/Everett Collection MY COUNTRY MY COUNTRY, director Laura Poitras, 2006. ©Zeitgeist Films

      Filmography

      Movies

      Credit
      70% No Score Yet 5 Seasons of Revolution Executive Producer - 2023
      No Score Yet No Score Yet How to Have an American Baby Executive Producer - 2023
      No Score Yet 100% Relative Producer - 2022
      95% 63% All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Director,
      Screenwriter,
      Producer
      $500.1K 2022
      92% 56% Riotsville, USA Executive Producer $40.8K 2022
      94% No Score Yet The Year of the Everlasting Storm Director,
      Producer
      $9.0K 2021
      No Score Yet No Score Yet Terror Contagion Director,
      Producer,
      Cinematographer
      - 2021
      100% 48% Ghosts of Sugar Land Executive Producer - 2019
      65% No Score Yet XY Chelsea Executive Producer - 2019
      97% 38% The Proposal Executive Producer $38.8K 2018
      100% 80% The Panama Papers Executive Producer - 2018
      93% 90% Crime + Punishment Executive Producer $8.8K 2018
      No Score Yet No Score Yet The Earth Is Humming Executive Producer - 2018
      100% 57% Strong Island Executive Producer - 2017
      91% 42% Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press Executive Producer - 2017
      No Score Yet No Score Yet Nuuca Executive Producer - 2017
      No Score Yet 50% A Night at the Garden Executive Producer - 2017
      80% 51% Risk Director,
      Producer,
      Film Editing
      $197.6K 2016
      No Score Yet No Score Yet Like Executive Producer - 2016
      No Score Yet No Score Yet Best of Luck With the Wall Executive Producer - 2016
      No Score Yet No Score Yet O'Say Can You See 2 Director,
      Producer,
      Cinematographer,
      Film Editing
      - 2016
      No Score Yet No Score Yet The Above Executive Producer - 2015
      96% 87% Citizenfour Director,
      Producer
      $2.8M 2014
      88% 79% The Law in These Parts Executive Producer - 2011
      No Score Yet No Score Yet O'Say Can You See 1 Director,
      Producer,
      Cinematographer,
      Film Editing
      - 2011
      88% 79% The Oath Director $42.1K 2010
      20% 80% Convention Cinematographer - 2009
      84% 73% My Country, My Country Director,
      Writer,
      Producer,
      Cinematographer,
      Film Editing
      $33.6K 2006
      67% 57% Flag Wars Director,
      Producer,
      Cinematographer
      - 2003

      TV

      Credit
      No Score Yet No Score Yet Tavis Smiley Guest 2015 2017
      No Score Yet No Score Yet Real Time With Bill Maher Guest 2015
      No Score Yet No Score Yet The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Guest 2014