Ecuador?

Does anyone know why the interview with the documentarians was done in Hong Kong? This may have been explained in the movie but, if so, I missed it. Seems extra risky since he then had to get out of China, through Russia with apparent plans to get to Ecuador. Obviously didn't make it past Russia.

Is there a reason he didn't break the story from Ecuador so he would be all set to seek asylum there?

I don't think it was overtly explained in the film or the documentaries, but it has been explained in other interviews Snowden and others involved have given later.

Ecuador was not on the table to start with. Snowden did not have any asylum arrangement with any country ahead of time. He apparently chose Hong Kong as the rendezvous point with the journalists because Hong Kong has a tradition of press freedom and support for protests and public demonstrations. Although it is now part of China, it has its own constitution (the Basic Law) and self-governance in most areas and supports freedom of speech and does not allow the kind of internal espionage that the USA practices pretty well everywhere it can, including on its own citizens.

While Hong Kong has a mutual extradition agreement with the USA, it contains a clause whereby Hong Kong may refuse to extradite political protesters, and it would certainly not automatically arrest and return one. Thus it is a haven for political refugees and asylum seekers. Snowden initially did not think too far ahead; he expected to be arrested and imprisoned by US authorities, but wanted to make sure he could get the materials to the journalists safely before this occurred. Once in Hong Kong he apparently began to consider other options and made contact with WikiLeaks which ultimately organized his escape.

In the end, although several South American countries offered asylum to Snowden, and he was planning to go there, but ended up stranded in Russia when the US canceled his passport, it worked to his long term advantage to be in Russia rather than in South America. The CIA is very active in covert operations in South America and would quite likely have organized either an assassination or an abduction; they are not able to do this in Russia (or in Hong Kong). While Russia didn't want Snowden, they took the opportunity of granting him temporary asylum; under the circumstances, it was a very effective way of giving the USA the finger and exploiting the negative view Snowden's revelations engendered in much of Europe and Latin America.

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While an earlier poster, "palisade-1", provided some useful points, the danger to Snowden while he was in Hong Kong was far, far too much exaggerated in the film. Hong Kong might have a little autonomy in its economic policies after 1997, but this was a political issue, and it would be naïve to think that the Government would act other than what they were told by the Chinese (PRC) Government, and acquiescing to his extradition (despite Hong Kong's agreement with the US dating back to Colonial times) was clearly out of the question. For the US to attempt to seize or abduct him in Chinese (Hong Kong) soil would be like a story from the Arabian Nights. Snowden was useful to China for political if not other reasons but what the authorities wanted was to keep a low profile to the entire affair to avoid too much international repercussions and to get him out of the country as soon as possible. So as the first step, what better place to go than Hong Kong, an international city from where it would be easy to fly to any country, but at the same time fully under China's control? So answer for the OP: the reason for getting him to Hong Kong was to ensure that he won't be seized or extradited.

The danger to Snowden in Hong Kong was virtually nil in the physical sense. There was no doubt that the authorities were doing everything to get him out of the country safely. How else was he able to board a plane at the airport? There was also little doubt that the authorities always knew where he was and he was given full protection. I hope no viewer would take seriously the scenes where he escaped posing as a reporter and for his own safety had to live in a crowded room with some ten illegal immigrants! Even the film mentioned the "rumor" (what was untrue in the film but likely to be what actually happened) that Snowden was hiding in the house of a billionaire, living in comfort if that was possible in his semi-exile situation, and undoubtedly well-fed, until he was eventually safely escorted out of the country.

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