HK filmmakers first to make Snowden movie

Four Hong Kong filmmakers have beaten Hollywood to the draw by producing the first film on fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, reported AFP.

Edward Snowden [File photo]

"To be the first one to really do anything about it... it was quite invigorating," cinematographer and editor Edwin Lee said about the five-minute YouTube video which gets its title from the code name Snowden gave himself -- "Verax".

The thrill, using local actors and shaky camera work reminiscent of the Bourne movie series, imagines the drama which must have unfolded in Hong Kong leading up to Snowden's bombshell leaks on vast US surveillance programs.

Snowden, 30, abandoned his high-paying job as an IT technician contracted to the National Security Agency (NSA) and went to Hong Kong on May 20.

During his hiding in the southern Chinese city, he issued a series of leaks on the NSA's global gathering of phone call logs and Internet data, including in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

"This is a spy movie that's developing," Lee said of the inspiration behind the idea.

Production for the film took place at breakneck pace as drama, diplomatic intrigue and tensions around Snowden unfolded in Hong Kong.

Snowden flew from Hong Kong last Sunday to Moscow, despite Washington having submitted a request for his arrest and extradition.

Russian authority says Snowden has been in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong on Sunday but he has not appeared in public.