DAUK Film Night: Citizenfour

***Online sales have now closed, but a limited number of tickets will be available for sale on the door (cash only).***

Screening and Discussion of Citizenfour

Join us for the screening and panel discussion of the Academy Award-winning Citizenfour. The after-screening discussion will be kicked off by Ewen MacAskill, the journalist who played a pivotal role in the Guardian's publication of Edward Snowden's disclosures of NSA surveillance activities.

Even if you have seen the film before, you won't want to miss this unique opportunity to view and discuss it with our Democrats Abroad community.

HBO's synopsis of Citizenfour describes it as "a real-life international thriller that unfolds by the minute. With unprecedented access, this gripping behind-the-scenes chronicle follows [Laura] Poitras [the director] and journalist Glenn Greenwald's remarkable encounters with Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel room as he hands over classified documents that provide evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency."

This film gets under the skin of just who Edward Snowden is and why he has put himself in this position.

In his review of Citizenfour in the New York Times on 23 October 2014, A.O. Scott said that "...What makes Mr. Snowden fascinating—a great movie character whatever you think of his cause—is the combination of diffidence, resolve and unpretentious intelligence that makes him so familiar. Slightly hipsterish, vaguely nerdy, with a trace of coastal South in his voice (he was born in North Carolina and grew up in Maryland), he is someone you might have seen at Starbucks ... One of us, you might say."

After the screening the floor will be open to discussion: Snowden - whistle-blower or traitor? In what situations can concerns about national security override citizens' right to privacy? Who decides? How do democracies manage these issues in the new, complex world of information technology, when even our legislators are often in the dark? What is the role of the media in these events?

Please join us on 20 November. It will undoubtedly be a lively and informative evening!

To view the trailer and find more reviews and information on the issues raised, click here.

DAUK Film Night
Date: Friday, November 20, 2015
Time: 6:30 - 10:00 pm
Place: Loyola Hall, Heythrop College, Kensington Square, W8 5HN (map)

Schedule:
6:15 PM : Doors open
6:30 PM : Introduction and welcome - Stephanie Stewart
6:45 PM : Citizenfour (114 minutes) - screening begins
8:40 PM : Break
8:55 PM : Panel Discussion with Ewen MacAskill and Rob Carolina, chaired by Bill Barnard
10:00 PM : Discussion ends

Panel Members:
Ewen MacAskill is the Guardian's Defence and Intelligence Correspondent and played a central role in preparing the publication of Edward Snowden's disclosures about NSA surveillance activities.

He was political editor of The Scotsman from (1990-96) before becoming chief political correspondent for the Guardian. From 2007 to 2013, he served as the paper's Washington DC bureau chief.

As a result of his reporting on global surveillance issues, he was a co-recipient of the 2013 George Polk Award; this reporting also contributed to the joint awarding of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service to the Guardian and the Washington Post in April 2014.

Robert Carolina is Executive Director of the Institute for Cyber Security Innovation at Royal Holloway College, University of London, Director of Origin Ltd, an intellectual property and technology law firm based in London and General Counsel for the Institute of Information Security Professionals and Information Systems Security Association. In 2014 in a talk for Royal Holloway he addressed the issue of "Ethics in the light of Snowden" for the information and cybersecurity professions.

He served as Chair of Democrats Abroad UK from 2011-15 and Co-chair of Obama London from 2008-14 and is a current member of the Executive Committee.

Chair:
Bill Barnard is a historian and has been a very active Democrat in both Alabama and the UK. He has attended five Democratic conventions (including Chicago in 1968), two as a member of the anti-Wallace faction of the Alabama state delegation, three as a commentator for the state-wide PBS network; he also attended two Republican conventions as a PBS commentator.

Since coming to the UK, he has served as Chair of Democrats Abroad from 2007 to 2011, was a founding member of the Oxford chapter of DAUK and is a long-standing member of the Executive Committee; he is a DAUK representative on the DPCA (Democrats Abroad International) and has served as DPCA Treasurer. His academic career included serving as Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama and in various academic policy leadership roles within the University of Alabama system and with professional associations of historians. He is the author of Dixiecrats and Democrats (1974).

Special notices:

In compliance with US campaign and party funding laws, we can only accept payments from US citizens and green card holders. Non-US citizens are very welcome to attend, but only as guests of US citizens who must book and pay for—as a gift—their guests' admission. By booking and paying for tickets for this event, you are confirming that you are a US citizen or green card holder. You must tick a box affirming this before completing your purchase.

If you are unable for any reason to book online using this website, please email us with your request. Advance bookings will only be taken until 13:00 on the day of the screening. Tickets are also available on the door, unless sold out.

Ticket purchases are final and refunds/exchanges are normally not available.

The Film Committee needs volunteers to help with a range of tasks, for example, getting permissions to screen films, help in writing announcements, help with our film database, front of house arrangements, and graphic design for Briefing Notes. Please speak to us at the film or email us.

This event is CLOSED to the press.