Now Showing @ ALA: CitizenFour

For Immediate Release
Tue, 06/09/2015

Contact:

Communications and Marketing Office

ALA Media Relations

CMO

cmo@ala.org

SAN FRANCISCO –   In this era of instant access to information and digital communication, does privacy exist in the United States?  ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition attendees will explore this issue from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., on Monday, June 29, during a free screening of CITIZENFOUR, part of ALA’s Now Showing series.      

CITIZENFOUR is the 2014 Oscar-winning documentary by filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras.  Filmed in a cinema verité style, the film, part thriller and part examination of 21st century civil liberties, affords audiences unprecedented access to Poitras' and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents he contends provides evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Poitras had already been working on a film about surveillance for two years when Snowden contacted her, using the name “CITIZENFOUR,” in January 2013. He reached out to her as a target of government surveillance, who had refused to be intimidated. When Snowden revealed his desire to expose the massive surveillance of Americans by the NSA, Poitras persuaded him to allow her to film him in his endeavor. 

The screening of CITIZENFOUR is made possible by the ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT).

"Now Showing @ ALA Film Program" offers a variety of free films and documentaries during the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition, June 25 – 30. In some cases, attendees will have a chance to meet with the film's writer, director or subjects.

With more than 25,000 participants, the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition is the largest conference in the world for library professionals. The event will feature more than 2,500 meetings, special events, tours and programs on various topics affecting libraries and librarians, including community engagement, impact of school library reductions, ebook lending and usability, new technologies, privacy, makerspaces, library advocacy and many others.

The exhibition encompasses the entire library market and includes more than 900 exhibitors and hundreds of authors and illustrators.

For more information regarding the "Now Showing @ ALA Film Program" and the 2015 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition, please visit www.ala.org/annual.

Since 1969, members of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) have worked to promote a progressive agenda. In doing so, SRRT has provided a home within ALA for progressive librarians, library workers, and supporters who promote social responsibility as a core value of librarianship.