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Awards
Documentary
Citizenfour (2014): Cast, Ratings, Box Office & Where to Watch
Citizenfour is a 2014 documentary directed by Laura Poitras, starring Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden. It runs 1 hour 54 minutes and earned $3.8 million worldwide. It won 1 Oscar, including Documentary (Feature), and 3 awards in all. Critics gave it 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 88 on Metacritic, and IMDb users rate it 8.0/10. Stream it on Fandango at Home Free and Fawesome, or rent or buy it on Amazon Video and Apple TV Store.
- Released
- Runtime
- 1h 54m (114 min)
- Director
- Laura Poitras
- Genre
- Documentary
- Original language
-
English - Studio
- RADiUS-TWC
- After the credits
- No No extra scene
The story
What Is Citizenfour About?
The premise of Citizenfour without spoilers. The whole story is in the plot summary further down.
Filmmaker Laura Poitras received an urgent message from a mysterious source, "Citizenfour," leading her to Hong Kong to investigate unsettling claims about national security. There, she joined journalist Glenn Greenwald to meet Edward Snowden, who possessed classified documents exposing the extent of NSA surveillance. The encounter ignited a tense and revealing series of events as they worked to understand and release Snowden's explosive whistleblowing revelations to the world.
Citizenfour Themes & Keywords
· 50 tags- mass surveillance
- government surveillance
- nsa
- edward snowden
- espionage
- national security agency
- investigative journalist
- whistleblowing
- whistleblower
- information leak
- us government deception
- corrupt politician
+38 more Show fewer
- invasion of privacy
- violation of privacy
- government scandal
- freedom fighter
- wikileaks
- surveillance
- reference to the internet
- hotel room
- reference to julian assange
- civil rights
- unconstitutional
- reference to edward snowden
- hong kong
- germany
- brazil
- patriot act
- title directed by female
- american war crimes
- breaking the law
- government corruption
- government cover up
- 4th amendment
- the weinstein company
- hbo
- cia central intelligence agency
- film journalism
- f rated
- spying
- reference to george w. bush
- terrorism
- united states of america
- reporter
- paranoia
- telecommunication
- internet
- lawyer
- reference to barack obama
- reference to 9 11
Where to watch
Where to Watch Citizenfour
Stream it on Fandango at Home Free and Fawesome, or rent or buy it from Amazon Video and Apple TV Store. US availability and prices from JustWatch.
Stream 7
Streaming availability in the US, powered by 
Cast & crew
Citizenfour Cast
Glenn Greenwald leads the cast, with Edward Snowden. Directed by Laura Poitras.
-
Director Laura Poitras
Ratings
Citizenfour Reviews & Ratings
Critics gave Citizenfour 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 88 on Metacritic, and IMDb users rate it 8.0/10.
-
IMDb 8.0 /10
See on IMDb -
Rotten Tomatoes 96% Tomatometer
Popcornmeter 87%
See on Rotten Tomatoes -
Metacritic 88 Metascore
User score 7.7
See on Metacritic -
TMDB 77% User score
See on TMDB -
Letterboxd 4.0 /5
87 ratings
See on Letterboxd
Plot
Citizenfour Plot Summary
What happens in Citizenfour from start to finish, spoilers included, with a timeline of 15 key events. The opening is below; the full summary is a 2-minute read.
Spoilers ahead
In January 2013, American documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who had been diligently crafting a film about surveillance programs resulting from the September 11 attacks, receives an encrypted email from a mysterious figure who refers to himself as Citizenfour. This stranger presents her with insider information regarding the illegal wiretapping conducted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence organizations.
Full summary
The whole story of Citizenfour, scene by scene
Box office
Citizenfour Box Office
Citizenfour grossed $3.8 million worldwide. $2.8 million came from the US and Canada and $979,822 (26%) from the rest of the world.
Worldwide gross
$3.8M
- US & Canada
- $2.8M
- International
- $979.8K
US & Canada 74%
Rest of the world 26%
Awards
Citizenfour Awards & Nominations
Citizenfour won 1 Oscar, including Documentary (Feature), and 3 awards in all.
3 wins4 nominations4 ceremonies
-
DGA Awards 2015 1 win · 1 nomination- Won Documentaries – Laura Poitras
-
BAFTA 2015 1 win · 1 nomination- Won Best Documentary
-
Oscars 2015 1 win · 1 nomination- Won Documentary (Feature)
-
Critics' Choice 2015 1 nomination- Nominated Best Documentary Feature
Videos
Citizenfour Trailers & Videos
3 videos: 1 trailer and 2 teasers.
- Teaser CITIZENFOUR: Interview Promo (HBO Documentary Films)
- Teaser CITIZENFOUR: Promo #2 (HBO Documentary Films)
Quiz
How Well Do You Know Citizenfour?
10 questions about the story, each with a hint if you get stuck. Pick an answer to see whether you were right.
Question 1 of 10
- Question 1: not answered
- Question 2: not answered
- Question 3: not answered
- Question 4: not answered
- Question 5: not answered
- Question 6: not answered
- Question 7: not answered
- Question 8: not answered
- Question 9: not answered
- Question 10: not answered
Who is the director of Citizenfour?
Details
Citizenfour Also Known As
17 alternative titles, including “Citizen four” and “Citizenfour - L'histoire d'Edward Snowden”.
- Also known as
-
- Citizen four
- Citizenfour - L'histoire d'Edward Snowden
- Citizenfour: Občan Snowden
- Ciutadà Quatre
- Citizenfour: Правда Сноудена
- 第四公民
- Cetățeanul patru
- Έντουαρντ Σνόουντεν: Citizenfour
- 시티즌포
- אזרח מספר ארבע
- Cidadãoquatro
- Гражданин четири
+5 more Show fewer
- Citizenfour : L'histoire d'Edward Snowden
- シチズンフォー スノーデンの暴露
- Quyền Công Dân
- Громадянин чотири
- แฉกระฉ่อนโลก
Seen Citizenfour?
More like this
Movies Like Citizenfour
Films with a similar story, tone or audience, including Snowden, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks and Official Secrets.
-
Snowden 2016 -
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks 2013 -
Official Secrets 2019 -
The Fifth Estate 2013 -
XY Chelsea 2019 -
Risk 2017 -
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone 2016 -
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers 2009 -
Dirty Wars 2013 -
The Great Hack 2019 -
Disclosure 1994 -
Citizen K 2019
From the blog
Articles About Citizenfour
Our article about Citizenfour: “Exploring Documentary Films: The Power of Real-Life Storytelling”.
FAQ
Citizenfour FAQ: Where to Watch, Cast & Box Office
Runtime, release date, director, cast, where to watch, box office, ratings and awards of Citizenfour, each answered in a sentence.
How long is Citizenfour?
Citizenfour runs 1 hour 54 minutes (114 minutes).
When was Citizenfour released?
Citizenfour was released on October 24, 2014.
Who directed Citizenfour?
Citizenfour was directed by Laura Poitras.
More films by Laura Poitras Who is in the cast of Citizenfour?
Citizenfour stars Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden.
Where can I watch Citizenfour?
In the US, Citizenfour is streaming on Fandango at Home Free, Fawesome and Hoopla and available to rent or buy on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store and Fandango At Home (availability from JustWatch).
How much did Citizenfour make at the box office?
Citizenfour grossed $3.8 million worldwide ($2.8 million domestic, $979,822 international).
How is Citizenfour rated?
Citizenfour has 8.0/10 on IMDb, 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 88 on Metacritic and 77% on TMDB.
What awards did Citizenfour win?
Citizenfour won 3 awards from 4 nominations, including Documentaries at the DGA Awards 2015.
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