9/11 DOCUMENTARIES
they would be documenting what hap- pened and the after-effects.
“I remember being in the office at Darlow Smithson, gathered around a television when 9/11 happened,” says John Smithson of Darlow Smithson Productions, which is now part of
Endemol. “I was gripped as this was possibly the most seismic event that had taken place in my life, but I knew as a programme maker and journalist that this was a huge event that we were bound to cover.”
DSP was commissioned on September Conspiring to make 9/11 documentaries
12, 2001 to make what was to become the first of several 9/11 films, How the Twin Towers Collapsed. It went on to make 9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers, with audio recording of calls made from the doomed people inside the towers and 9/11: The Falling Man, which focused on one of the best-known 9/11 images, the Associated Press picture of a man falling from the North Tower. DSP is now making two more one-offs for Channel 4 in the UK, which the broadcaster will air as part of its tenth anniversary coverage. “Now, ten years on, what is happen- ing is that it is moving in to history, it is less immediately raw,” Smithson says. “Those involved are still grieving, but see the event in a different way. That means we can be more reflective and do some things that we couldn’t do at the time.”
Many people do not believe the official ver- sion of events and there are a slew of docu- mentaries putting the various 9/11 conspira- cy theories to the test Films like the 2006 9/11: Press for Truth,
based on Paul Thompson’s The Terror Timeline, ask whether the official version of events stands up to scrutiny. Noted factual filmmakers Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock have also made fea- ture-docs casting critical eye relating to events surrounding 9/11. 1994’s Fahrenheit 9/11 is the highest-grossing political film ever. Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden,mean- while, incorrectly concluded that if Morgan can’t find Bin Laden,he must be dead. Indie distributor Mercury Media pitches itself as the go-to place for producers of pop- ular,but non-mainstream content around the subject. It sells the controversial low-budget doc Loose Change, the latest iteration of which is Loose Change:An American
Coup.The original version of the doc was made for US$25,000 and, while popular, the tiny budg-
24TBI June/July 2011
et showed on screen. The new version has a US$750,000 budget and voiceover from Daniel Sunjata,one of the stars of fire fighting drama series Rescue Me. Mercury also has Zero:An investigation into
9/11, an Italian produced doc with a voiceover from Francesco Pannofino. “The contention in the films questioning the official line is that 9/11 was a made-for-TV extravaganza,” explains Mercury Media chief executive Tim Sparke.He adds that outside a US-UK axis, these films are popular with TV buyers. “Almost every country in the world has broadcast a version of either Loose Change or Zero – either on a mainstream or a digital broadcaster,”he says. Mercury’s latest offering is Fordson, which
through the prism of an Arab-American high school football team, tells the story of a US Arab community that has faced hostility post- 9/11. VPRO in the Netherlands has picked it up and Sparke says that several broadcasters are waiting to see the TV edit, following its limited US theatrical release.
There are numerous seminal images and pieces of video, often taken by New Yorkers or news organisations. There is, however, no known footage from inside the buildings and some filmmakers have used docudrama techniques to recreate unseen events. Alone Against Al Qaeda recreates the story of John O’Neill, the US anti-terror- ism expert who warned of the dangers of a terror attack, before leaving the FBI and becoming head of security at The World Trade Center, where he died in the 9/11 attacks.
The film was made for German public broadcaster ZDF and cultural channel Arte. ZDF Enterprises is currently mar- keting the English-language version of the Spiegel TV-produced docudrama. “After ten years it is possible to re- enact this story,” says Nikolas Huelbusch, project manager, documen- tary coproductions at ZDF Enterprises. “We also use well-known images and archive, but the re-enactment element makes it more emotional and allows viewers to get closer than in a normal documentary film.” ZDFE is also shopping Witness: D.C.
9/11 and 9/11: Science and Conspiracy, which has been picked up by thematic channel Planete in France and NTV in Germany. TBI
For the latest in TV programming news visit
TBIvision.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48