"Citizenfour," a documentary film about Edward Snowden -- the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked documents revealing mass US surveillance activities -- earned an Oscar nomination Thursday.
The film by US director Laura Poitras was one of five shortlisted for the documentary feature prize for the Academy Awards, which will be given out on February 22.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh served as executive producer on the movie, which tells the story of how Snowden exposed secret NSA documents via newspapers including Britain's Guardian and The Washington Post.
Snowden is wanted by the United States on espionage charges. The fugitive was granted asylum in Russia, where he has a three-year residency that allows him to travel abroad.
"Citizenfour" will compete against "Last Days in Vietnam," "The Salt of the Earth," "Finding Vivian Maier" and the Netflix-produced "Virunga."
Poitras, who had already been shortlisted for a documentary Oscar in 2007, told Variety she was pleased with Thursday's nomination.
"This is a film that got made because a lot of people took a lot of risks," said Poitras. "This is a celebration of that."