HBO wins both Documentary Oscars, including one for Edward Snowden film 'CitizenFour'

HBO may be considered home to some of the most popular television shows, but its documentary division had its own party on Oscar night. Both the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Subject winners have aired on the network.

HBO Documentary Films presented CitizenFour and will air the film tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO. The film was directed by Laura Poitras and follows her journey with journalist Glenn Greenwald to meet with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong.

Snowden is currently living in Russia, where he has asylum. He leaked thousands of documents on the secret programs run by the National Security Agency. The film was distributed by RADiUS and is a Praxis Films production with Participant Media and HBO.

“We focused on the person Snowden. We tried with our film to show him, to give him a voice,” producer Mathilde Bonnefoy said after winning the Oscar, notes Deadline. “His motives were pure. He’s a young man who decided to end his life as he knew it; he was ready to die for what he did. Maybe [CitizenFour] moves people, galvanizes people to want to make a personal change. After screenings people come up to us really moved.”

Other films nominated for Documentary Feature include Finding Vivian, The Salt of the Earth, Last Days in Vietnam and Netflix’s Virunga.

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 won the Documentary Short Subject Oscar. The film was directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent and shows how responders at the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line help veterans on the other side of the phone. Dana Perry produced the film.

Crisis Hotline aired on HBO in November 2013.

You can check out the full list of Oscar winners here.

image of Dirk Wilutzky, Laura Poitras and Mathilde Bonnefoy courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com

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