Verax (film)

Verax is a 2013 Hong Kong produced short film, about five and a half minutes long, directed by Jeff Floro, Edwin Lee, Shawn Tse, and Marcus Tsui, made by a group of expatriates from Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United States on a budget of about 641 dollars. It dramatizes the period Edward Snowden spent in Hong Kong following his leak of National Security Agency documents, depicting the responses of CIA employees, journalists, Hong Kong police, and Chinese security officials, with American English teacher Andrew Cromeek playing Snowden and filming at the Mira Hotel where Snowden actually stayed; its producers described it as the first film ever made about Snowden. Released on YouTube on June 25, 2013, it drew close to 250,000 views by late July of that year and was initially praised before facing criticism for its amateur acting and production quality; its title is Snowden's own chosen codename, Latin for truth teller.