Oscar winner Laura Poitras slams Toronto and Venice for programming Hillary Clinton Docs and accuses festivals of “kind of washing up” Clinton’s record

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras on Tuesday slammed the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals for programming documentaries linked to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and suggested the decision bordered on a “palliative treatment” of history.

Her remarks came at the Toronto Film Festival’s Doc Conference, the day after Poitras’ new documentary. All the beauty and the bloodshed, celebrated its North American premiere in Toronto. The film about artist Nan Goldin and her crusade against OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, won the Venice Golden Lion.

Poitras visited Venice as did Clinton, the latter in support of their Apple TV+ documentaries gutsy. Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton then took to TIFF where they revealed In their handsa documentary produced by the Clintons that focuses on one of Afghanistan’s few female mayors.

“It’s alarming to see some of the most powerful people in the world, like Hillary Clinton, walking down a red carpet in Venice and TIFF saying nothing,” Poitras said. “And I would argue that they’re also engaging in some kind of whitewashing. I mean, Hillary Clinton was actively involved in the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. She supported the escalation of troops.”

Poitras added: “I find it really disturbing that all this is being forgotten and that we are providing a platform. I mean, documentary is journalism. We stand for facts and hold people accountable. And I don’t see why there isn’t more questioning about what that means… I think we really need to look at what that means for the status of documentary.”

In their hands, directed by Tamana Ayazi and Oscar nominee Marcel Mettelsiefen, is a Netflix title. The streamer plans an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release starting November 9; The film will debut on Netflix on November 16th.

Poitras said she thought “long and hard” about voicing her criticism and said she didn’t want to distract from the work of other documentarians who screen films at TIFF. But referring to Clinton, she said, “I think people who hold that level of power should be asked tough questions.”

She framed her criticism in the context of the Justice Department’s ongoing efforts to prosecute Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the subject of Poitras’ 2016 film risk.

“This is literally the number one issue facing journalism worldwide right now, the US prosecution of Assange under the Espionage Act,” Poitras said. “There is nothing more serious that threatens the First Amendment, not just in this country but journalism worldwide, because what the US government is doing is trying to extradite him, bring him back, try him under the Espionage Act to be made public for the literal exposure of war crimes in the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.”

She continued: “The last few years have been frightening for journalists. First, the Obama administration – they mobilized the Espionage Act more than ever before, targeting whistleblowers and journalists. And now it’s not just escalated to whistleblowers and sources under Obama, now it’s being used for a publisher [Assange].”

Poitras also said it was hypocritical for Venice and TIFF to simultaneously program and showcase the Clintons’ work No bears, the latest film by imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi. She noted, “The US government’s effort to indict and prosecute Assange is not, I would say, dissimilar to the imprisonment of Jafar Pahani in Iran.”

Poitras’ interlocutor for the Doc conference was Thom Powers, TIFF’s chief programmer for documentaries, who presumably played a key role in the selection In their hands for the festival program. Despite the potential awkwardness involved, Powers urged the filmmaker to articulate her criticism, saying, “Use your voice, Laura.” This was met with thunderous applause.

Deadline has reached out to Powers for comment, as has HiddenLight, the Clintons’ production company. We also reached out to Netflix for comment. If we receive feedback from any of these parties, we will update our story.

It’s worth noting that former President Obama, who appeared in Poitra’s comments, is a co-founder, along with Michelle Obama, of Higher Ground Productions, which has a deal with Netflix. The company supported the Oscar-winning documentary American factoryand the Oscar-nominated doc crip camp, both of which played at numerous film festivals starting with Sundance. Higher Ground also came on board descendant, an anticipated Oscar contender, which premiered at Sundance in January. The prospect of festivals avoiding documentaries associated with the Obamas seems unlikely.

In their handsmeanwhile, will travel from TIFF to the Camden International Film Festival in Maine.