December 19, 2025 (2025-12-19) (United Kingdom and Ireland)
Running time
126 minutes
Countries
United States
Germany
France
Language
English
The Six Billion Dollar Man is a 2025 documentary film directed byEugene Jarecki, tracing the saga of lightning-rodWikiLeaks founderJulian Assange, whose recent release from prison has reignited a global debate aroundpress freedom. The film had its world premiere at the2025 Cannes Film Festival where it won the prestigiousL'Œil d'or Grand Prize for documentary and the first-ever Golden Globe Award given to a documentary filmmaker.[1][2]
The documentary deals with Assange's battle against extradition to the United States. Framed as a high-tech international thriller, the film incorporates privileged access toWikiLeaks,CCTV and otherarchival footage and never-before-seen evidence to explore the increasingly precarious position of journalists in a world where the defence of truth is under threat.[3]
Assange in the crowd at the 2025 premiere at Cannes
It had its world premiere at the2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2025, in the Special Screenings section.[4][5] It was previously set to world premiere at the2025 Sundance Film Festival. However, it was pulled from the lineup due to "significant and unexpected developments".[6][7] In November 2025,Watermelon Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film.[8] It is set to be theatrically released in theUnited Kingdom andIreland on December 19, 2025.[9] It is set to be theatrically released in the United States in early 2026.[10]
Editorial accolades have been largely positive withThe Irish Times saying “Eugene Jarecki’s The Six Billion Dollar Man may be the most chilling film of 2025, not simply because of the notoriety of Julian Assange, its subject, but also as a clinical exposé of the elaborate machinery of state power, media hostility and private opportunism.”[14]Time Out noted that “Jarecki’s film, a conspiracy thriller in documentary clothing, provides a corrective to the public image of this deeply polarising figure… the American filmmaker [Jarecki] takes on – and down – a global system of power that should worry the hell out of us all."[15]The Guardian echoed this in saying “Jarecki’s army of eye-witnesses run the gamut from Naomi Klein to Pamela Anderson (a fan and frequent visitor) to the former president of Ecuador, while the film’s sprawling crime scene eventually straddles half the globe.”[16]The Film Verdict praises “The Six Billion Dollar Man is a masterwork and a near-masterpiece.”[17] ThoughScreen Daily says “…the film ultimately works better as a conversation-starter about the freedom of the press than as a layered portrait of the controversial activist.”[18]The Times concludes, "As far as the American director Eugene Jarecki is concerned Assange is a wronged and righteous hero and Jarecki’s meticulously researched, two-hour film argues that case convincingly."[19]
