Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras on Monday condemned the Toronto and Venice film festivals for including Hillary Clinton in red carpet events.
"Hillary Clinton was actively involved in the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan," Poitras said during a Q&A conference at the Toronto International Film Festival. "She supported the escalation of troops. And I really find it troubling that this is all being forgotten, and we're providing a platform."
Poitras made the criticism after a screening of her latest documentary, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which recently won the Venice Film Festival's top prize, the Golden Lion. Clinton was present at both the Venice and Toronto festivals, and Poitras called it "alarming to see some of the most powerful people in the world, such as Hillary Clinton, walking the red carpet at Venice and at TIFF, and saying nothing about journalism."
Clinton was joined by daughter Chelsea Clinton at the festivals to promote the launch of their AppleTV+ docuseries Gutsy, as well as In Her Hands, a Netflix documentary about one of Afghanistan's first female mayors, which was produced by the Clinton family.
Poitras said that festivals including programs related to the Clintons allowed the former secretary of state to engage "in a kind of whitewashing."
Poitras has won numerous awards during her career, including a BAFTA, an Independent Spirit Award and a Directors Guild of America Award. In 2014, she was part of a team of reporters who won a Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism. Perhaps her most well-known film, Citizenfour, took home the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2015.
Her comments in Toronto came while she was discussing Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. She called the prosecution of Assange, who has spent years incarcerated in the United Kingdom and faces extradition to the U.S., a threat to free speech around the world.
During the conversation, Poitras also brought up No Bears, a film made by imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi.
"The U.S. government's effort to indict and prosecute Assange is, I would say, not dissimilar to imprisoning Jafar Panahi," she said.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed follows the life of artist and activist Nan Goldin. In the film, Goldin is seen trying to hold museums and other art institutions accountable for working with the Sackler family, who has been accused of contributing to the nation's opioid crisis.
Newsweek reached out to Poitras and Hillary Clinton for comment.
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