Directing

Laura Poitras

Born February 2, 1964 · Boston, Massachusetts, USA (age 62)

Laura Poitras is an Academy Award-winning American documentary film director and producer residing in Berlin. Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden. while My Country, My Country received a nomination in the same category in 2007. She won the 2013 George Polk Award for "national securit…

Known For

Cover-Up

Cover-Up · 2025

MovieDocumentaryHistory

He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.

Citizenfour

Citizenfour · 2014

MovieDocumentary

In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed · 2022

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

MovieDocumentary

The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

Keep the Lights On

Keep the Lights On · 2012

Keep the Lights On

MovieDramaRomance

In 1997 New York City, filmmaker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a one-night fling. As their relationship evolves through dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself.

Flood

MovieDocumentary

A filmmaker revisits her evangelical roots to find connection with her estranged father.

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

The Year of the Everlasting Storm · 2021

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

MovieDramaMystery

Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, the film chronicles this unprecedented moment in time, and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.

Ghosts of Sugar Land

Ghosts of Sugar Land · 2019

Ghosts of Sugar Land

MovieDocumentary

Shocked when their friend embraces extremism, a group of Muslim Americans in Texas recount their time with him and theories about his fate.

Clowns

MovieDocumentary

The Great Clown Panic of 2016 wasn’t about clowns. It was about you.

Filmography

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Cover-Up

Cover-Up · 2025

MovieDocumentaryHistory

He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.

Director

Citizenfour

Citizenfour · 2014

MovieDocumentary

In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.

Director

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed · 2022

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

MovieDocumentary

The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

Director

Keep the Lights On

Keep the Lights On · 2012

Keep the Lights On

MovieDramaRomance

In 1997 New York City, filmmaker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a one-night fling. As their relationship evolves through dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself.

Thanks

Flood

MovieDocumentary

A filmmaker revisits her evangelical roots to find connection with her estranged father.

Executive Producer

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

The Year of the Everlasting Storm · 2021

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

MovieDramaMystery

Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, the film chronicles this unprecedented moment in time, and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.

Director

Ghosts of Sugar Land

Ghosts of Sugar Land · 2019

Ghosts of Sugar Land

MovieDocumentary

Shocked when their friend embraces extremism, a group of Muslim Americans in Texas recount their time with him and theories about his fate.

Executive Producer

Clowns

MovieDocumentary

The Great Clown Panic of 2016 wasn’t about clowns. It was about you.

Producer

Conditioned Response

Conditioned Response · 2017

Conditioned Response

For the past 20 years, ex-Army Ranger and “killology” expert Dave Grossman has been traveling across the US to train police officers on his philosophy of killing. Footage from one of Grossman’s seminars is juxtaposed with stark, brutal images of police brutality—including the shooting of Philando Castile by a Minnesota police officer.

Executive Producer

Picket Line

Picket Line · 2017

MovieDocumentary

One week before Donald Trump was elected, 700 workers—many of whom were Trump supporters—walked out of the Momentive chemical plant in Waterford, NY, sparking a 105-day strike. In the wake of his win, the striking workers reflect on the election and Trump's advocacy for union-busting legislation.

Executive Producer

Shooting the Mafia

Shooting the Mafia · 2019

Shooting the Mafia

MovieDocumentaryHistory

Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia began a long battle against the ruthless Cosa Nostra when she first photographed the sinister scene of a brutal murder. Documenting the barbaric rule of the Italian Mafia, she was an unwavering witness to its crimes. Her art and courage helped end the horrific and bloody reign of the Corleonesi clan.

Executive Producer

The Panama Papers

The Panama Papers · 2018

The Panama Papers

MovieDocumentaryCrime

A documentary feature film about the biggest global corruption scandal in history, and the hundreds of journalists who risked their lives to break the story.

Executive Producer

Strong Island

Strong Island · 2017

MovieDocumentary

Examining the violent death of the filmmaker’s brother and the judicial system that allowed his killer to go free, this documentary interrogates murderous fear and racialized perception, and re-imagines the wreckage in catastrophe’s wake, challenging us to change.

Executive Producer

A Night at the Garden

A Night at the Garden · 2017

A Night at the Garden

MovieDocumentaryHistory

Archival footage of an American Nazi rally that attracted 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden in 1939, shortly before the beginning of World War II.

Executive Producer

Project X

Project X · 2016

MovieDocumentary

Narrated by Rami Malek and Michelle Williams, and based on classified NSA documents, the film reveals the inner workings of a windowless skyscraper in downtown Manhattan.

Director

Relative

Relative · 2022

MovieDocumentary

A filmmaker unearths a pervasive history of multigenerational trauma in her Italian-American family. As decades of secrets, home movies, and long-avoided conversations surface, a family once bound by tradition forges a new path forward.

Producer

Risk

MovieDocumentaryCrime

Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.

Director

Flag Wars

Flag Wars · 2003

MovieDocumentary

Filmed over four years, this documentary focuses on the impacts of gentrification as gay white professionals move into a largely black working-class neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio.

Director

They're Here

They're Here · 2026

MovieDocumentaryHorror

They're Here is a horror film that follows Edén Villa (pseudonym) and anonymous Minneapolis residents as they evade and resist the paramilitary occupation of their city. Told in the tradition of dystopian cinema, They're Here is set in a winter landscape where masked agents abduct children, residents travel in trunks, shackled prisoners are loaded onto airplanes within eyesight of vacationers, and bicyclists track the movements of an invading force.

Editor

Our New President

Our New President · 2018

Our New President

MovieDocumentary

The story of Donald Trump's election told entirely through Russian propaganda. By turns horrifying and hilarious, the film is a satirical portrait of Russian meddling in the 2016 election that reveals an empire of fake news and the tactics of modern day information warfare.

Executive Producer

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Hale County This Morning, This Evening · 2018

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

MovieDocumentary

Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, this film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South - trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming.

Executive Producer

XY Chelsea

XY Chelsea · 2019

MovieDocumentary

The historic story of whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Shot over two years and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the film picks up on the momentous day in May when she leaves prison and follows her through her journey of discovery.

Executive Producer

In the Absence

In the Absence · 2018

MovieDocumentary

When the MV Sewol ferry sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities.

Executive Producer

Our New President

Our New President · 2017

Our New President

MovieDocumentary

Donald Trump has become a beloved cult figure for many Russians. The short film uses found footage, fake news and state-controlled political programming to reveal the variety of ways Trump's newfound Russian supporters express their devotion.

Executive Producer

Point of View

Point of View · 1988

SeriesDocumentary

Since its 1988 premiere, this critically acclaimed documentary series has presented hundreds of films that put a human face on contemporary social issues by relating a compelling story in an intimate fashion. "POV" has won virtually every major film and broadcasting award available, including 38 Emmys, 22 Peabody Awards and three Oscars.

Producer