7 Days in September

This moving, if rudimentarily filmed documentary, is a collective account of ‘September 11, 2001’ and that day’s impact on a variety of New Yorkers. The filmmakers utilise an array of original footage shot over that week by professionals and by amateurs; they also interview an array of people who lived in New York at the time who describe their own responses and the unusual occurrences witnessed. The narrative focuses on the feel in New York over the week: the mood on the street, impromptu prayer sessions that were conducted, for example, as well as debates that raged between strangers; the clean up effort and the way that people pulled together, helping each other, making donations, giving blood, and providing emotional support. Whilst in no way an analysis of the calamity, the filmmakers eloquently capture the small stories. The work in a minor way, also addresses the role and the dilemma of any documentary filmmaker caught up in a tragedy - to film or not to film and at what stage does observation of a grand-scale catastrophe cross over into exploitation and opportunism.