A quarter-century after September 11th, the attacks' ripple effects persist across generations. Orphaned children, War on Terror journalists, young Afghans, and U.S. Marines shaped by the 2021 withdrawal share their stories.
Stream
Social & External
The people behind it
Michael Smoak
Self
Garrett M. Graff
Anand Gopal
Jenny Pachucki
Bruce Hoffman
Osama bin Laden
Self (archive footage)
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Rudolph Giuliani
Donald Trump
Tania Head was the ultimate 9/11 survivor. She had the grimmest story. None of it was true.
On February 4, 1999, 19 of the 41 shots fired in 10 seconds by 4 NYPD Street Crimes Unit cops hit Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo as he stood in the vestibule of the building where he lived in the Bronx…. This video essay seizes on the grotesque factual precision of this numerical data, proceeding with an intense contemplation of how police violence is produced and then addressed by other forces on the city streets.
In 1938 an airfield was built at the northeastern-most end of America, the descent went slowly but incessantly through the Cold War. This is the story of how its inhabitants gradually moved away from the great world stage and had to reinvent themselves as well as their home town.
Some of the world's best jazz, R & B, hip-hop, rap, gospel and Latin musicians perform classic and modern songs in this 2004 benefit show celebrating the 70th year of Harlem's famed Apollo Theater. Performers include Natalie Cole, Ashanti, Brian McKnight, Yolanda Adams with the Abyssinian Baptist Choir, James Ingram, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Patti LaBelle, Angie Stone and Arturo Sandoval.
An intense examination of the military industrial complex, from President Eisenhower to the modern day.
Barneys' closing sale.
A documentary revealing why America's school closures lasted longer than almost any other nation. Framed as a forensic analysis of what happened to children during school closures, it blends director Natalya Murakhver's perspective as a Soviet immigrant with voices of children and families nationwide, exposing devastating learning loss, mental health crises, and inequality.
This film visits many of the neighborhoods and landmarks on Manhattan Island and occasionally includes a history lesson. The neighborhoods include the Bowery, Chinatown, Herald Square, and Times Square. Some of the architectural highlights are the Empire State Building, the New York Public Library, Temple Emanuel, the Central Park Zoo, and the Rockefeller Center complex. The film ends with a visit to a dining room in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where the Xavier Cugat Orchestra entertains.
N.Y.H.C. is the first feature-length documentary to explore the New York Hardcore music scene. Drawings its roots from punk rock, hardcore evolved into a dedicated, self-contained movement, unconcerned with success in the mainstream. The documentary follows seven bands in the summer of 1995, ranging from Bronx inner-city youth to Long Island suburbanites to Hare Krishna devotees. N.Y.H.C. is a surprisingly in-depth and non-exploitive look into a vital and often neglected music community.
So often a documentary will try to capture the supposed real experience of life in New York City, and fail miserably. Usually this is because the filmmaker tries to incorporate larger-than-life characters, and give his audience just one somewhat overwhelming experience of life on this busy little island. In the NY Pizza Confessions, Finbarr Wilbrink, instead focuses his camera on plain everyday people, and the result is genuine New York.
A documentary following the 2021 campaign of Paperboy Love Prince, a rapper and activist, for Mayor of New York
A depiction of New York’s subway as an absurd obstacle course – revealing a system that shuts many out of a city in motion.
STATE OF FEAR takes place in Peru, yet serves as a cautionary tale for a world engaged in a "global war on terror." It dramatizes the human and societal costs a democracy faces when it embarks on a "war" against terror, a "war" potentially without end, all too easily exploited by unscrupulous leaders seeking personal political gain.
Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s the communities of Cannonsville, Granton, Rock Rift, Rock Royal, Johnny Brook and Beerston, NY were destroyed to make way for the Cannonsville Reservoir. The reservoir would serve as the last piece of New York City’s growing water infrastructure in a battle of upstate versus downstate. 60 years after vacating or moving their homes, former residents gather at their annual town reunion to reflect and reminisce on their memories and the collective trauma that they share.
Originally produced for The Learning Channel, this documentary aims to dissect the events surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, addressing many of the questions that still continue to haunt the public. Through CGI graphics, interviews with witnesses and discussions with those who designed and engineered the buildings, this program examines the horrific incident in full detail.
Meet the dirtiest cop in NYC history. Michael Dowd stole money and dealt drugs while patrolling the streets of '80s Brooklyn.
Using archival footage, Robbie Martin examines the media's complicit role in the false narratives surrounding the 2001 anthrax attacks
Emily Maitlis tells the story of Donald Trump, the world's most famous developer, who changed the New York skyline with his glitzy towers and made himself a multi-billionaire.
"The World Trade Center: Rise and Fall of an American Icon" discusses the planning, construction, collapse, recovery, and cleanup of the buildings in the aftermath of their destruction by an act of Islamic terrorism.
Chinatown has had a big hit in 2020 with many business closing down, community members getting harassed and attacked by hate crimes. Yet the community perseveres as the artist continues to work. Henry Chang, born and raised in Chinatown, continues to live and work on Mott street. Part of the self-reclaimed “OG crew” of China- town, he is adored and respected by his community the way community leaders are. While prepping to shoot, Corky Lee, a legendary Asian-American photographer and friend to Henry for over a half a century, died of Covid. Corky's presence and art naturally seeped its way into the film. Henry Chang, the unofficial official community leader of Chinatown walks us through life and art as we transition from the Year of the Rat to the Year of the Ox.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
This gripping documentary revisits the shocking 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history.
Explore the unlikely partnership and enduring legacy of one of the most prolific power couples in entertainment history. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz risked everything to be together.
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Days after 9/11, letters containing fatal anthrax spores spark panic and tragedy in the US. This documentary follows the subsequent FBI investigation.
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
In her own words, through personal video and diaries, Pamela Anderson shares the story of her rise to fame, rocky romances and infamous sex tape scandal.
Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.
Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.
The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.
His love of film began as an escape from a rocky childhood. From underdog to Hollywood legend, Sylvester Stallone tells his story in this documentary.
In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and also to inspire change.
From teen comedian to Hollywood legend, Eddie Murphy revisits his extraordinary showbiz ride with raw honesty and humor.
Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army located in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous valleys. The documentary provides insight and empathy on how to win the battle through hard work, deadly gunfights and mutual friendships while the unit must push back the Taliban.
This raucous journey into the heart of democracy captures an unusual rite of passage: 1,100 teenage boys from across Texas coming together to build a representative government from the ground up.
In candid conversations with actor Jonah Hill, leading psychiatrist Phil Stutz explores his early life experiences and unique, visual model of therapy.