Showtime on Friday will premiere XY
Chelsea, a documentary about whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Produced by Laura Poitras (RISK,
Citizenfour) with filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins, XY Chelsea
follows Manning as she is released from Fort Leavenworth, an all-male
maximum-security prison in Kansas, for disclosing classified
materials to WikiLeaks. Before leaving the White House, President
Barack Obama commuted all but four months of Manning's remaining
prison term. She served 7 years of a 35-year sentence.
Manning, 31, came out transgender on
the day after she was sentenced.
“Shot over two years and featuring
exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the
film picks up on the momentous day in May when she leaves prison and
follows her through her journey of discovery, while also examining
her place in the conversation on national security and the fight of
the transgender community for rights and visibility,” Showtime said
of the film in a press release.
The film also takes a look at Manning's
failed 2018 bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland.
A federal judge earlier this month sent
Manning to the Alexandria jail for refusing to testify to a grand
jury investigating WikiLeaks. Her lawyers said Friday that they have
asked the judge to release Manning, arguing that an indictment of
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on espionage charges make her
testimony unnecessary.