Citizenfour

Citizenfour is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. The film had its U.S. premiere on October 10, 2014 at the New York Film Festival and its UK premiere on October 17, 2014 at the BFI London Film Festival. The film features Glenn Greenwald and was co-produced by Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky, with Steven Soderbergh and others serving as executive producers. Citizenfour won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Oscars.

Synopsis

In January 2013, Laura Poitras, an American documentary film director/producer who had been working for several years on a film about monitoring programs in the US that were the result of the September 11 attacks, receives an encrypted e-mail from a stranger who called himself, "Citizen Four." In it, he offers her inside information about illegal wiretapping practices of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, accompanied by investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian intelligence reporter Ewen MacAskill, she travels to Hong Kong with her camera for the first meeting with the stranger, who reveals himself as Edward Snowden.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港; "Fragrant Harbour"), officially Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea. Hong Kong is known for its skyline and deep natural harbour. It has a land area of 1104 km² and shares its northern border with Guangdong Province of Mainland China. With around 7.2 million inhabitants of various nationalities, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises.

After the First Opium War (1839–42), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong remained under British control for about a century until the Second World War, when Japan occupied the colony from December 1941 to August 1945. After the Surrender of Japan, the British resumed control. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy on 1 July 1997 under the principle of one country, two systems. Disputes over the perceived misapplication of this principle have contributed to popular protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Revolution.

Laura Poitras

Laura Poitras (/ˈpɔɪtrəs/; born (1964-02-02)February 2, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American documentary film director and producer residing in New York City.

Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2015 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 security reporting" related to the NSA disclosures. The NSA reporting by Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, and Barton Gellman contributed to the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded jointly to The Guardian and The Washington Post.

She is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and one of the initial supporters of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Early life

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Laura Poitras is the middle daughter of Patricia "Pat" and James "Jim" Poitras, who in 2007 donated $20 million to found The Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at McGovern Institute for Brain Research, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her parents keep a home in Massachusetts, but live mostly in Orlando, Florida. Her sisters are Christine Poitras, an ESL teacher; and Jennifer Poitras, a disaster response planner and consultant.

Want U Back

"Want U Back" is a song by British singer Cher Lloyd, from her debut studio album Sticks and Stones. It was released on 17 February 2012, as the third and final single from the UK version of the album, and on 22 May 2012 as her debut US single taken from the US version of the album. The UK single version of the song features guest vocals from The X Factor USA contestant Brian "Astro" Bradley, while new US and Snoop Dogg versions were released in the United States. It was written by Shellback and Savan Kotecha, and it was produced by Shellback. Musically, "Want U Back" is a dance-pop song, with elements of bubblegum and synthpop, while the lyrics are about a girl who's in denial of the fact that she's jealous that her ex-boyfriend has moved on to another girl. Even though she was apparently who the one who dumped him in the first place, she makes various attempts to sabotage her ex-boyfriend's new relationship.

The song received acclaim from most music critics, some praised her sassy attitude on the song and labelled it "infectious". There are two videos for the song: the UK version and the US version. The UK video features Lloyd traipsing through old photographs with her former beau and some with his new girlfriend and wreaking havoc on the happy couple, while the U.S. version features Lloyd at a diner (Cadillac Jack's) wreaking havoc on her ex's new girlfriend. The song has reached number 3 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, number 18 on the Irish Singles Chart and number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the song has reached number 9 on the Pop Songs chart and number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first top 40 hit in the United States. It remains Lloyd's biggest hit both worldwide and in the United States to date.

Bill Maher

William "Bill" Maher (/ˈmɑːr/; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, media critic, and television host. As a television host, he is well known for the HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher (2003–present). Maher previously hosted a similar late-night show called Politically Incorrect, originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.

Maher is known for his sarcastic attitude,political satire and sociopolitical commentary. He targets many topics including religion, politics, bureaucracies, political correctness, and the mass media.

Maher supports the legalization of cannabis and same-sex marriage. His critical views of religion were the basis for the 2008 documentary film Religulous. He is a supporter of animal rights, having served on the board of PETA since 1997, and is an advisory board member of Project Reason. In 2005, Maher ranked at number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on September 14, 2010.