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 United States that were the result of the September 11 attacks , receives an encrypted e-mail from a stranger who calls himself , " Citizenfour . " 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 in a hotel , who reveals himself as Edward Snowden . Scenes of their meeting take place in Snowden 's hotel room , where he maintains his privacy . Shots of Snowden in his bed , in front of his mirror and of the hotel from a distance form the character of Snowden as a trapped political agent
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Citizenfour