Risk

[projekktor id=’27999′]

Risk is a documentary film directed by Laura Poitras and starring Julian Assange.

In her Oscar-winning Citizenfour, documentarian Laura Poitras gained access to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Now she’s hit the jackpot again in her riveting Risk – this time, with unprecedented access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Since summer 2012, Assange has been living at Ecuador’s London Embassy, having received asylum following sexual assault allegations in Sweden – offences Assange denies committing. Going to Sweden would also make him eligible for extradition to the U.S.

Six years in the making and beginning when Assange was still a free man, the film itself unfolds somewhat like a spy thriller, covering events like Cablegate, the Private Bradley Manning case and the moment when Assange – in disguise on a motorbike – flees to the Ecuadorean embassy. Also on camera are WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison (who accompanied Snowden on his flight from Hong Kong to Moscow) and surveillance expert Jacob Appelbaum (who makes an appearance at a Cairo conference, where he denounces tech companies who used the internet to impede Egypt’s democratic revolution).

The documentary debuted at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, but has since been updated and reedited after the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to begin prosecuting Assange.

Risk is rated 14A.