NSA to NSO: NY filmmakers explore circles of surveillance

American filmmaker Laura Poitras has once again turned her camera on the watchmen in an exhibition opening Friday in Berlin

BERLIN -- American filmmaker Laura Poitras, known for her award-winning 2014 documentary on former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and his revelations about the National Security Agency, has once again turned her camera on the watchmen. In an exhibition opening Friday in Berlin, Poitras examines the way the state monitors citizens' lives — both abroad and at home, in New York City. While her early work on the war in Iraq and the U.S. government surveillance apparatus — including the Oscar-winning “Citizenfour” — follows the long trail of the Sept. 11 attacks, Poitras’ new show grapples with the issues of the past year: The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for racial justice. The goal remains, Poitras said, to “create experience that has emotional resonance.”