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Cover-Up film image; man talking on a corded phone with his feet up on his desk

Cover-Up

© The New York Times

In a world saturated with disinformation, Cover-Up pulls us into the uncompromising ethos of one of journalism’s most legendary truth-tellers: Seymour Hersh. From exposing the My Lai massacre to unraveling CIA abuses and Abu Ghraib atrocities, Hersh has spent decades dragging concealed histories into the light — often at great personal and political cost. In this gripping portrait, Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and Emmy-winning Frontline-producer Mark Obenhaus trace Hersh’s singular process with intimacy, skepticism, and bite. “I barely trust you guys,” Hersh quips, establishing a candid and often thorny dynamic between subject and directors.

Cover-Up is a layered meditation on source protection, moral clarity, and the imperative to report when it’s needed most, with the film mirroring Hersh’s own rigor — never comfortable, always urgent. Crucially, the film’s story bridges past and present: Hersh is still reporting, still outraging the powerful, now turning his unflinching gaze toward Gaza. Cover-Up isn’t a retrospective, it’s a dispatch from a frontline that never pulled back.

Directors

Laura Poitras & Mark Obenhaus

Featuring

Seymour Hersh

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2025

Language

English

19+
117 min
Praxis Films, Project Mockingbird

Book Tickets

Friday December 05

2:00 pm
Hearing Assistance
VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Sunday December 07

8:30 pm
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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Monday December 08

8:30 pm
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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Tuesday December 09

4:00 pm
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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Sunday December 14

8:15 pm
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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Monday December 15

3:10 pm
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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Tuesday December 16

1:40 pm
Hearing Assistance
VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Credits

Executive Producer

Thomas MacWhirr, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Josh Braun, Nick Shumaker

Producer

Yoni Golijov, Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, Olivia Streisand

Cinematography

Mia Cioffi Henry

Editor

Amy Foote, Peter Bowman, Laura Poitras

Original Music

Maya Shenfeld

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