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. 

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...