Here's Edward Snowden's statement on the Oscar win for Citizenfour

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden released a statement Sunday night on the Oscar triumph of Citizenfour, the film about his 2013 decision to expose the National Security Administration's mass surveillance programs and the public impact of that revelation:
When [Director] Laura Poitras asked me if she could film our encounters, I was extremely reluctant. I’m grateful that I allowed her to persuade me. The result is a brave and brilliant film that deserves the honor and recognition it has received. My hope is that this award will encourage more people to see the film and be inspired by its message that ordinary citizens, working together, can change the world. [ACLU]
The movie took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, "CitizenFour" will air on HBO this evening.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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