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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

11 directors, 11 stories, 1 film.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

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.

---

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.

---

Connections

Featured in Filmselskabet: Episode #4.1 (2013)

---

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Great Idea – Different Views of the Intolerance in the World

This collection of eleven short stories in one movie is a great idea, and presents some great segments, but also some disappointing surprises. Based on the tragic event of the September 11th 2001 in the United States of America, eleven directors were invited to give their approach to the American tragedy. The result of most of them is not only an individual sympathy to the American people, but mainly to the intolerance in the world with different cultures and people.

Ken Loach (UK) presents the best segment, about the September 11th 1973 in Chile, when the democratic government of Salvador Alliende was destroyed by the dictator Augusto Pinochet with the support of the USA.

The other excellent segments are the one of Youssef Chahine (Egypt), showing the intolerance in the world, and the number of victims made by USA governments in different countries along the contemporary history; and the one of Mira Nair (India), showing a true story of injustice and prejudice against a Pakistanis family, whose son was wrongly accused of terrorism in USA, when he was indeed a hero.

Some segments are beautiful: Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran) shows the innocent Afghans refugee children preparing an inoffensive shelter against bombs, while their teacher tries to explain to them what happened on the other side of the world; the romantic Claude Lelouch (France) shows the life of a couple in New York nearby the WTC; Danis Tanovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) shows the effects of their war in a small location and the lonely protest of widows; Sean Penn is very poetic, showing that life goes on; and Shohei Imamura's story is probably the most impressive, showing that there is no Holy War but sadness and disgrace.

The segment of Idrissa Quedraogo (Birkina Faso) is very naive, but pictures the terrible poor conditions of this African nation.

The segment of Amos Gital (Israel) is very boring and manipulative, showing more violence and terrorism.

The segment of Alejandro González Iñárritu is very disappointing, horrible, without any inspiration and certainly the worst one.

My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "11 de Setembro" ("September 11")