Shane O’Sullivan’s Watergate documentary opens in UK cinemas: UK release 18 Sept

Filmmaker Shane O’Sullivan assembled his new documentary on the Watergate scandal from archival footage and excerpts of feature films, narrated with a deadpan voiceover by Harry Shearer.

The film intercuts archive material with moments from later fiction films and series, including The Ice Storm (1997), Dick (1999) and scenes from Gaslit, alongside contemporaneous works such as Medium Cool, All the President’s Men and Taxi Driver. O’Sullivan uses these juxtapositions to survey major episodes of the affair without delving into exhaustive detail.

The director also includes lesser-known clips of President Richard Nixon, showing him joking with aides before cameras and later public appearances that the film places alongside documented falsehoods from the scandal.

A reviewer noted the editing and selection make the film accessible to younger viewers (described in the review as generation Alpha) while retaining a sense of nostalgia and immediacy.

Release schedule: the documentary opens in UK cinemas on 18 September; a digital release in the UK, Ireland and the US is set for 29 September.