Abstract
Citizenfour (Laura Poitras, 2014) and Risk (Laura Poitras, 2016) are two documentaries about two controversial whistleblowers, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange respectively. It would seem natural to deploy the documentary genre to tackle the theme of whistleblowing, but this does not mean that the goal of the documentary is the same as that of the whistleblower. To compare the goals of documentary films and whistleblowing, an examination of the search for truth is of primary importance; hence the recourse to explore dialectics in both films which not only revolve around tensions but also dialogues on many different levels. To complicate this analysis even further, in both films Laura Poitras is also a participant. This article looks at the negotiation of power dynamics between filmmaker and subject, explores the intertextual dialogue between Citizenfour and Risk and focuses on different types of reception by the audience and filmmaker.
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