Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus on ‘Cover-Up,’ ‘Lack of Trust’ in Media, Trump’s BBC Lawsuit: ‘They Made a Mistake and Should Have Retracted It’

It took two decades for Laura Poitras, the director of Oscar winner “Citizenfour” and Oscar nominee “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” to convince Pulitzer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh to let her make a film about his career. The long-gestating project finally became a reality three years ago, with Hersh allowing Poitras and co-director Mark Obenhaus, a long-time friend of his, full access to his archives. The result of the monumental work of research and months of in-depth interviews is “Cover-Up,” which had its world premiere at Venice and now plays at IDFA.

Speaking with Variety out of the Dutch festival, the directing duo say their collaboration was designed after three months of creating a proof of concept for not only the film but also how to work together. Alongside producer Olivia Streisand, the two conducted meticulous pre-research. “I felt strongly that I needed to know there was a strong archival base to pull from,…