Film-maker who met Snowden and reported on NSA leaks with the Guardian will debut documentary on 10 October in New York

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Laura Poitras’ highly anticipated documentary about Edward Snowden and the NSA will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in October, organisers announced on Tuesday.

Citizenfour, which focuses on Snowden’s leaks to Poitras and the Guardian about the NSA and global surveillance, will premiere on Friday 10 October.

“Seeing Citizenfour for the first time is an experience I’ll never forget,” New York Film Festival director Kent Jones said in a statement. “The film operates on multiple levels at the same time: a character study [of Edward Snowden] … a real-life suspense story and a chilling exposé.”

Steven Soderbergh produced the film, which is named after a code name that Snowden used to refer to himself in emails to Poitras, before she, Glenn Greenwald and Guardian journalist Ewen MacAskill flew to Hong Kong to meet him in June 2013.

Citizenfour is the third instalment in Poitras’ award-winning trilogy of works examining life in post-9/11 America. Her first film My Country, My Country was nominated for an Academy Award, while 2010’s The Oath won the “excellence in cinematography award” at Sundance.