September 11 (2002)

The effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks are told from different points of view around the world.

Directors:

Youssef Chahine, Amos Gitai (as Amos Gitaï)

Writers:

Alain Brigand (original idea), Youssef Chahine (segment)

Stars:

Maryam Karimi, Mohamad Dolati, Agelem Habibi

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maryam Karimi	...	L'institutrice (segment "Iran")
Mohamad Dolati	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Agelem Habibi	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Esmat Vahedi	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Ameneh Banizadeh	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Razieh Jafari	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Hassan Rezai	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Najibeh Habibi	...	Enfant (segment "Iran")
Emmanuelle Laborit	...	Elle (segment "France")
Jérôme Horry	...	Lui (segment "France")
Nour El-Sherif	...	Youssef Chahine (segment "Egypt") (as Nour Elshérif)
Ahmed Haroun	...	Le G'I (segment "Egypt") (as Ahmed Seif Eldine)
Sanaa Younes	...	La mère (segment "Egypt") (as Sanaa Younés)
Ahmed Fouad Selim	...	Le père (segment "Egypt")
Maher Essam	...	Le Palestinien (segment "Egypt")

Storyline

Eleven directors from 11 countries each contribute an 11-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001. A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what's happened. City kids in Burkina Faso think they've spotted Osama bin Laden. A deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who has left that morning for work at the World Trade Center. A Chilean remembers Allende. Events recall other deaths. A mother endures more than her son's death. And so on. The tone varies, as do the locales. Most stories are about others coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.

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Plot Keywords:

chilean exile | chilean coup d'etat 1973 | terrorist | f rated | title directed by female | 

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Taglines:

11 directors, 11 stories, 1 film.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK France Egypt Japan Mexico USA Iran

Language:

English Spanish French Arabic Hebrew Persian French Sign Language Japanese

Release Date:

11 September 2002 (France)

Also Known As:

September 11

Company Credits

Production Co:

CIH Shorts,Catherine Dussart Productions (CDP),Comme des Cinémas

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Mira Nair's segment, a clip of Monsoon Wedding (2001), Nair's previous film, is shown on television.

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Quotes

Pablo: Mothers, fathers and loved ones of those who died in New York, soon will be the 29th anniversary of our tuesday, 11th of September and the first anniversary of yours. We will remember you. I hope you will remember us.

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Connections

Featured in Filmselskabet: Episode #4.1 (2013)

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Soundtracks

Sto te nema
Popular Song
Sung by Dajana Kacar
(segment "Bosnia-Herzegovina")

User Reviews

A well-inspired collection of shorts.

As you may know, the subject here was to ask eleven directors from all over the world to make each a short movie of 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame. We have here : - Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran) : what afghan refugee kids can understand to the towers collapsing ? Well, nothing. A great lesson. - Claude Lelouch (France) : a weak plot with a great cinematography... Just imagine a deaf woman living by the WTC who sees without understanding it that her dog barks... Well just see it. - Youssef Chahine (Egypt) : the greatest oriental movie maker has compassion... For everyone : for an us soldier who died ten years ago, for the people in the Wtc but also for a palestinian suicide-terrorist. Maybe the less tender movie towards the us. - Danis Tanovic (bosnia hrzgovia) : good images, makes us travel, for sure... Not a very good plot. Idrissa Oudraogo (Burkina Faso) : from one of the poorest country in the world, a tender and funny story about five boys who want to capture Osama Bin Laden... And they could have done it but nobody believes them when they tell they know where he is. Ken Loach (uk) : September 11, 1973, The Chile entered in a twenty-years long bloody dictature. Thousands of death, tortures : all that was offered to Chile by Henry Kissinger and the CIA, and knowing this changes very much your point of view ! I guess that is because of that particular short that no american movie distribution company accepted to release the movie in us theaters ! Loach forgot to point that 1973 is also the year when the WTC was built ! - Alejandro Gonzalez inarritu (Mexico) : impressing images that we all know too well, and a lot of black screens. I didn't get this one very much, it is more an artist video (to show in an exhibition) than a movie. - Amos Gitaï (Israël) : an absurd ballet of policemen, journalists, etc., around a burning car in Jerusalem. Very well done. - Mira Nair (India) : about the anti-islamic feeling that followed september the 11th. Very good actualy. - Sean Penn (us) : a funny little story that reminds us a fact usualy forgotten, the WTC did have a huge shadow, and some places now have a daylight they never had. - Shohei Imamura (Japan) : a different one. Here there is not even one word about the WTC, and the action takes place at the end of WWII. It has only one message : no war is holy. This short movie gives very deep feelings, but the director aparently would have done better with more than 11 minutes. --- so --- A great movie, a great attempt to take the world's temperature. I love it.