One of the more intriguing selections of the 2025 Sundance International Film Festival will no longer be screening in Park City next month. This morning, the Sundance Institute announced that Eugene Jarecki’s “The Six Billion Dollar Man” had withdrawn from the festival. The documentary, centered on Julian Assange‘s legal issues over the past decade, will not be finished in time.
In a statement from the festival, Jarecki noted, “The truth is, significant recent and unexpected developments have emerged at the heart of the story which, if not incorporated in the version for Sundance, would not represent a finished film. Sundance has shaped my career and been a cornerstone of my journey—only something of this magnitude could make me withdraw.”
The one “Special Screening” announced so far in the festival’s slate, the official synopsis for “Six Billion Dollar Man” described the project simply as “Julian Assange faced a possible 175 years in prison for exposing U.S. war crimes until events took a turn in this landmark case.”
Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and another five years in a U.K. jail fighting extradition to the United States pleaded guilty in July to exposing military secrets via WikiLeaks. The deal with the U.S. government allowed him to return to Australia with no jail time. Assange was the mastermind behind it.
There is no word on when Jarecki and his producer, Kathleen Fournier, expect the film to be finished.
Sundance did not reveal if they would add another selection to the festival’s slate at this time.
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival will be held from Jan 23 to Feb 2, 2025.
