Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, recalled the 2006 premiere of Paul Greengrass’s *United 93* and its impact on the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.
The film, which depicted the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, was chosen to open the festival despite concerns it was “too soon” after the tragedy. De Niro, along with producing partner Jane Rosenthal and festival staff, invited the family members of those who died on the flight to the screening at the Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan.
An attendee at the premiere described a powerful emotional response from the family members during and after the film. The writer, covering the event for their employer at the time, had witnessed the September 11 attacks firsthand, watching the towers burn from a downtown apartment and observing the aftermath in Union Square. They initially questioned whether revisiting the events through a film was necessary, but found the experience profoundly moving.
The family members, while not necessarily “happy or even content,” expressed a sense of relief in sharing their memories of their loved ones. The screening culminated in intense wailing from the family members in the loge section of the theater as the film ended, a “tragic cacophony” the writer continues to recall. Greengrass’s direction was praised for its ability to translate the abstract experience of 9/11 into a visceral cinematic experience, gently guiding the audience through the events of that day.
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