Showtime has announced it will premiere a documentary film about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, which debuted last year at the Cannes Film Festival.
The doco tiled Risk was directed by Laura Poitras and the cable TV channel says it is partnering with Neon on a theatrical release and will debut the film on television this summer in the US.
Filmed over six years, Risk tells the story of Assange and Wikileaks, the controversial organisation he founded to publish and provide access to secret information, often classified by governments.
Over the course of making the film, Poitras enjoyed unprecedented access to Assange, currently exiled in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The director is in the process of updating the film to extend its story through the 2016 US presidential campaign, during which Wikileaks released thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, and to the present day.
"It is an exciting time to be working with Showtime and Neon," Poitras said.
"Both organisations are thinking outside the box about how to bring complex stories to a wide audience. I am thrilled to team up with them on Risk.'"
Poitras is also the director of Citizenfour, the 2014 documentary about NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
