25 years on: 14 documentaries and films to mark 9/11 anniversary and where to watch them
9/11 is a day that is etched in the memory of New York City residents and US citizens in particular, but also a day that shocked the whole globe.
Today marks 25 years since September 11, 2001 – the day that two planes crashed into the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center.
It is a day that is etched in the memory of New York City residents and US citizens in particular, but also a day that shocked the globe.
Most people can recall where they were and what they were doing when they heard the horrific news of the devastation caused when the two planes struck the twin towers, and a third went on to strike the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.
On the same day, there was a failed attempt by a fourth plane, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania when the passengers took over the plane.
In the years and decades that followed 9/11, filmmakers released numerous documentaries and depictions exploring the events before, during and after the attacks.
To mark 25 years since 9/11, here we have rounded up some documentaries and films for those wanting to look back on the events.
focuses on a former FBI counterterrorism agent who felt the US should have preemptively taken out Osama Bin Laden.
Students in one of New York City’s most elite schools, Stuyvesant High, watched the World Trade Center attack from their classrooms. Director Amy Schatz spoke with former students who shared their recollections.
The US Capitol and White House were spared being hit by a fourth plane on 9/11 when passengers wrestled control from the terrorists inside. That plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. United 93 is a fictionalised retelling of the events that ended in the 44 people inside the plane, including the hijackers, being killed.
is a scripted feature film looking at the plane crash in Pennsylvania; is a documentary that explores unclassified evidence that allowed filmmakers to piece together what exactly happened on the plane.
Oscar winner Alex Gibney co-executive produced the 10-part fictionalised take on the events leading up to 9/11, based on an adaptation of the 2006 book in 2018. In he dives into the aftermath of al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah, who was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” post-9/11.
This documentary goes into detail about the steps that followed in the immediate hours after the 9/11 attacks, focused on the point of view of President George W. Bush and his staff. It includes interviews with Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and many others.
Based on the story of Alicia Esteve Head, T was both a book and a documentary that looked at a Spanish businesswoman who claimed to have survived the World Trade Center attacks (calling herself Tania Head). She became the head of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network support group, but in 2007, her story was revealed to be a hoax.
In its six episodes, walks through the timeline of 9/11 while focusing on those who survived and those who came to their rescue, including firefighters, paramedics and members of the public.
In this five-episode series, experts explore where the 9/11 attacks came from, what happened the day of, and the decades-long ripple effect the attack has had on the US and its citizens.
directed by Kathryn Bigelow, follows the efforts to find al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, and won one for sound editing.
In December 2001, as American forces blasted mountain hideouts in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan, hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters fled. Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria and Scott Anger travelled to the Gulf of Oman, into the border regions and cities of Pakistan, and on to Saudi Arabia and Yemen to investigate what happened to Al Qaeda.
In 2004, a US Army-commissioned study found that one in six veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was suffering from PTSD. Yet fear had kept many from seeking help. Filmmaker Raney Aronson-Rath explored how, for some, the return home could be as painful as war itself.
When the National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden downloaded and leaked tens of thousands of documents about a secret, extensive US government surveillance programme, it sparked a fierce debate over privacy, technology and democracy in the post-9/11 world. In this two-part series, FRONTLINE traced the lengths taken to hide the programme from the public.
25 years after the attack, multiple generations, from survivors, to children who lost parents, journalists, Afghans and US Marines, share how their lives were impacted by the events of 9/11.
