Two New Docs To See This Weekend: OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY and THIS TIME

This weekend, I want to draw your attention to two new documentaries that are opening for limited runs in the Village. The first one is a project I worked on called OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY. It's about Cantor Fitzgerald, the company that had it's offices on the top floors of the World Trade Center and, on 9/11, they lost 658 employees, nearly nearly two-thirds of their workforce.  Their surviving CEO Howard Lutnick (left), who was taking his son to kindergarten that morning, drew a lot of media attention because of his loss but the film goes into the real story behind the headlines and how the company survived against all odds.

I've worked on this documentary for the last 6 years as an associate producer and my good friend Danielle Gardner is the film's director, bravely telling this incredibly personal story (her brother was a Cantor exec who did not survive). The film has its premiere tonight at the IFC Center as part of the annual IDA Docuweeks series and it will play there every day for the next week. For those on the west coast, the film will be out there starting next Friday August 17 as part of Docuweeks LA. Oh--and we got a great review in the NY DAILY NEWS today too!

The other film is a doc by my Victor Mignatti, a filmmaker I met way back when I was in film school. His film is called THIS TIME and follows the story of the stories of a number of singers in show business (including Cissy Houston), some looking for second chances and other for their big break. In an age of IDOL where there is so much hype surrounding recording artists, this doc keeps it real and shows you the hard work and the heartbreak that goes hand in hand with a career in the performing arts. I saw a nearly finished cut a couple years ago and found it moving, intense, emotional and, of course, very musical and inspiring as well. It opens today at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street.

So no whining about "ah, there's nothing to see out there"...all you have to do is look and you will find some indie treasures. Especially this weekend.

9/11 Doc OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY Now Available Online

Over the years, I've posted on here about the progress and screenings of a documentary I worked on as an associate producer called OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY. It tells the story of Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial trading firm that had offices on the top floors of the World Trade Center. After a successful film festival tour in 2012-13, you can now watch it online this week as it debuts this month on a variety of platforms including iTunes, Amazon and even YouTube.

On 9/11, more than 600 of Cantor's employees died in the terrorist attack on the building...more than two-thirds of their work force. Amazingly, the CEO Howard Lutnick survived and vowed to save the company against the odds to help support the families of those left behind. Many people know Howard Lutnick as the face of the company when he appeared on all the TV networks in the days after the attack talking about his extraordinary loss. This documentary delves deeper into that story as well as the stories of others who survived and helped get Cantor back on its feet.

The film is directed by my good friend and colleague Danielle Gardner, who lost her brother Doug who worked at Cantor. Danielle spent nearly 10 years making the film and I was working with her as an associate producer on the project for almost 5 years. I'm very proud of this project and I hope you will check it out and see a different side of the 9/11 story that it presents.

Doc About Cantor Fitzgerald Opens, 9/6 NY and 9/10 US

For almost five years, I worked as the associate producer on a documentary about Cantor Fitzgerald, the company whose offices were at the top of the World Trade Center. OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY follows the story of Cantor from September 11th up to the 10th anniversary of the attack which killed more than 600 people who worked for the company. Theirs was the largest loss of life of any single entity that day.

The film is directed by Danielle Gardner, a mentor of mine from when I was in film school. Danielle's brother worked at Cantor so the film started as a deeply personal project. But over time it evolved into telling the remarkable story of this company that lost a majority of its employees on that one terrible day was kept in operation so that they could help support the families of those left behind. It's an incredible tale of resilience and resolve and you can see it in theatres this weekend, when it opens at the Regal Union Square on September 6th.

Additionally, for those not in NYC, there is a special screening of the film happening on September 11th at theaters across the country...for more info on that visit the ScreenVision website. There will be a live Q/A following that screening with Danielle and Howard Lutnick, the company's CEO who survived because he was taking his son to his first day of kindergarten. That's a part of the Cantor story most people know but this film tells the rest of the story. I am very proud of my work on this project and I hope you can check it out this coming week. 

Getting Close To The Top Of The World

Yesterday was a crystal-clear spring day in New York. When I was walking home for lunch, I turned onto my street and noticed a beam being raised into place a thousand feet in the air at the top of the new 1 World Trade Center building.  The clarity of the steel beams against the blue sky was remarkable, especially after a week when the tower was covered in clouds, fog and rain. So I snapped a few photos which I've posted below.

The pictures came out incredibly blue but that's not just due to the sky. I had just been shooting some video indoors with the same camera and had it on the incandescent setting.  But, in a way, it ended up as an interesting, if unintentional, stylistic choice.

Though there is a new controversy over what it's official height will be, construction workers are getting very close to the top of the structure.  The new WTC is set to top out next month. Yet already the new building has claimed its space in the downtown skyline, balancing out the lower end of the island while providing a new "due south" to help people get their bearings in the urban jungle of Manhattan.

Cantor Fitzgerald & The Names On The 9/11 Memorial

The 9/11 Memorial opened to the public yesterday and there is one company whose names take up almost two entire walls on the north tower void, Cantor Fitzgerald.  On 9/11, they lost 658 employees which was more than two-thirds of the company, whose headquarters were on the top five floors of Tower 1.  They suffered the largest loss of life for any single entity on that horrible day and they account for nearly a quarter of all those who died in the terrorist attacks in NY, PA, and DC.

Because of this, Cantor played a unique role in the memorial. They strongly advocated for the names to be placed above ground (the initial plan had them underground) and they made sure that all the names were arranged in proximity to the the deceased's friends and colleagues at work, as opposed to alphabetical arrangement.  It took some work with computer algorithms to make this happen but in the end it is the most fitting and moving way for the names to be displayed.

For the last few years, I've been working as an Associate Producer on a feature-length documentary that tells the incredible story of this company's loss and survival. It's called OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY (directed by Danielle Gardner,whose brother worked at Cantor) and should be hitting the festival circuit in 2012.  I spent the 10th anniversary yesterday shooting their beautiful memorial service in Central Park, attended by Hillary Clinton and with music provided by the New York Pops.  When you see all those people, more than a thousand, gathered in one place to remember their loved ones, the loss is both overwhelming and inspiring.  It was a day, like 9/11 itself, that I will not soon forget...