9/11 DOCUMENTARIES
are anticipating channels will want to mark the occasion with fresh program- ming,” says Emily Elisha, head of factu- al at Zodiak Rights. “And Channel 4 will give these films a strong window.” Testimony Films, which makes both of the docs specialises in interview-based and oral history programming. Joseph Maxwell directed 9/11: The Fireman’s Story and says that Testimony’s other 9/11 offerings including its 2006 film for the History Channel US, The Miracle of Stairway B, helped open doors with the subjects of this doc. Accordingly, there are interviews with fire fighters who have previously never gone on the record and who talk through their har- rowing experiences. “We are in part telling the story of the impact on these people’s lives post-9/11 - the ten-year anniversary is a water- shed in many ways as people can now look back,” Maxwell says. “New York firemen have that New Yorker sense of confidence and are great storytellers – and they have an extraordinary story.” Zodiak is also shopping Giuliani’s
9/11 in which the then New York mayor talks on TV for the first time about how he dealt with the events of September 11. It has been sold to Rai (Italy) and Nat Geo International, which has just extended its license for the film. Fire fighters are at the centre of many 9/11 stories. One, James Hanlon, direct- ed the 2002 documentary 9/11. With filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, Hanlon happened to be filming a rookie fire fighter with the intention of making an entirely different, altogether more mundane doc. While on location the team captured one of the seminal 9/11 recordings, of the first plane hitting the North Tower and the producers duly fol- lowed some of the first emergency workers on the scene. US broadcast net- work CBS showed the film six months and one year after the attacks with an introduction from Robert de Niro. Produced by Goldfish Pictures and Silverstar Productions, TV mover and shaker and Shine International handles distribution.
Savvy filmmakers realised as the events of September 11 unfolded that
22TBI June/July 2011
Screenwatch Rebirth
The Show: Rebirth The producer:Project Rebirth Inc. The distributor: Shine International (TV) Concept:Feature doc with unique time- lapse footage of the rebuilding of the Ground Zero site Airing: Showtime (US)
Rebirth has taken longer to make than any other film on 9/11. The producers had time- lapse cameras set up at Ground Zero six months after 9/11. They were then updated every five minutes, round-the-clock, through the rebuilding process, capturing a unique visual history of the
site.The resulting film is interwoven with the iconic stories of five individuals close to the event. Hollywood producers Jim Whittaker (8
Mile, American Gangster) and David Solomon (Paycheck) were the driving forces behind the project.
“I was in New York a week after the attacks and wanted to see Ground Zero. I looked at the debris and felt the fear and anxiety of the place, but also thought ‘this place will look different one day’ and got a sense of hope from that thought,” explains Whittaker. “I wanted to bring that feeling of moving from fear and anxiety to a feeling of hope to the film.” The cameras started filming six months
after 9/11 and the producers then found five people affected by the disaster who would commit to being filmed at regular intervals during the period Ground Zero was being rebuilt – providing a ‘human time-lapse’ ele- ment to complement the images of the site itself. The film got a standing ovation at Sundance this year and in the US Oscilloscope Laboratories will distribute it theatrically from August. US cable net Showtime has bought the US TV rights and will air the film to coincide with the tenth anniversary and Shine International is han- dling international TV sales. Solomon says: “This is a very emotional
subject for Americans, but we think this will be compelling viewing for people all around the world. We’ve always thought of it as a hopeful piece – it is a way of thinking about 9/11 without returning to the tragedy. We think the way we filmed it over years gives a unique perspective. It’s different to coming along ten years later and looking back.” Whittaker set up Project Rebirth as a not-
for-profit organisation and the list of bene- factors that contributed to funding the movie and the organisation’s other work stretches to numerous corporations and
individuals.The resulting film will be housed in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum located at Ground Zero.
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