Overview

• Directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, the documentary premiered Aug. 29 at the Venice Film Festival, tracing Hersh’s reporting from My Lai to Abu Ghraib.
• At a festival press conference, Hersh said the United States is in an "existential crisis" and asserted that President Donald Trump seeks to avoid another election.
• Hersh said he is working to investigate Trump but acknowledged he does not yet have the access he needs.
• The film portrays Hersh as both subject and source, showing his resistance to revealing methods and his concern that material from his notes could endanger confidential contacts.
• Poitras rejects labeling the film as activism and the documentary addresses criticisms of Hersh’s recent claims, noting external probes have undermined his Syria chemical-weapons and Nord Stream allegations.