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Movies
And Specials: 9/11
Synopsis:This
summer, filmmakers Jules (at right in the above photo) and Gedeon
Naudet (left) began working on a profile of a probationary firefighter,
or "probie," in New York City and his company, Engine 7, Ladder
1. For the project, the Naudets, who are brothers, teamed up with
their friend, James Hanlon (center), who is also a firefighter
in the company. The company’s firehouse is on Duane Street in
lower Manhattan, a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
They spent
the summer shooting the probie, an eager 21-year-old named Tony
Benetatos. As the summer went on, they gathered hundreds of hours
of tape on Benetatos and life at the firehouse.
Around 8:30
a.m. on September 11, the company received a routine call to investigate
a suspected gas leak at an intersection less than a mile north
of the World Trade Center. Jules went on the call. While there,
he heard a roar from above and turned his camera upward, and captured
the only known video of the first plane striking Tower 1.
The firefighters
jumped in their truck and sped to the fire, arriving within minutes.
They were among the first firefighters to arrive. Jules followed
the firefighters into Tower 1, and filmed as Battalion Chief Joesph
Pfeifer helped set up the command center that coordinated the
rescue of thousands inside the buildings. Jules remained with
Chief Pfeifer for 45 minutes inside Tower 1 until the unexpected
collapse of Tower 2. His camera kept rolling, and for a time provided
the only light, as Chief Pfeifer led other firefighters in a desperate
race to save themselves before it, too, collapsed. Eventually
they found an exit, minutes before the building came down.
When the first
plane hit, Gedeon was at the firehouse. With three other firefighters,
he went to the World Trade Center, and, like Jules, was within
a block of Tower 1 when it collapsed. Both brothers feared that
the other had been killed that morning. That afternoon, they had
an emotional reunion at the firehouse.
Miraculously,
all firefighters from Engine 7, Ladder 1, including Hanlon and
Benetatos, survived. Sadly, 343 of their firefighter colleagues
died in or around the twin towers that day.
CBS acquired
the rights to present the Naudets’ account. The presentation of
"9/11" will help support the fund-raising efforts of the Uniformed
Firefighters Association Scholarship Fund for the benefit of firefighters'
families, including contributions from the Naudet brothers and
CBS.
The Cast:
Robert DeNiro as Host
Production
Info:
Airdates:
Debuts on CBS, Sunday, March 10th, 2002 at 9PM ET/PT.
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