By Connor Adams Sheets
Flushing Town Hall played host Monday evening to a new documentary honoring the memories of the thousands of people who died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and those who survived the terrorist attack that felled the Twin Towers.
Featuring the taped testimonies of 12 people, including first responders, victims’ family members, survivors and even City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone), “9/11 Reflections: Then and Now” is a unique historical work which takes on the task of documenting the stories of that fated day in order to preserve them for future generations.
“We’ve been showing this film for sixth-graders. Twelve-year-olds have no recollection — they were 2 years old on 9/11 — so I hope to educate them,” Jeff Bruzzo, the Long Island director of the film, said. “History has a habit of being lost or changed, so I intend to set the record straight with this film.”
The movie, which attracted dozens of viewers, included a range of clips of people speaking about their experiences, from a woman who survived after running down the stairs from the 90th floor of Tower 2 shortly after the first tower was struck, to a man in New Jersey who was spared because he was late for work, to a firemen who was almost trapped in the wreckage after the towers had already fallen.
The screening was the public premiere of the film, and it was an emotional affair for some attendees, many of whom lost friends or relatives on 9/11 or had other personal connections to the attacks that killed 2,752 people in the towers, including 60 city and Port Authority police officers and 343 firefighters.
One of those Bravest who died in the attack was Lt. Vincent Halloran, cousin of Councilman Dan Halloran, who also nearly lost his fireman brother Patrick that day a decade ago.
A former member of the NYPD and a member of a family with a long history of serving and protecting New York, the councilman spoke before the screening and was featured in the movie.
“One of the most important things to remember is almost every New Yorker was touched by this tragedy,” he said. “A 9/11 family in New York is not a unique thing. Our loss of Vincent Halloran is different in that he chose to go in.”
Half the money raised by sales of the DVD of the documentary Monday went to 9/11 organizations.
Ellen Kodadek, director of Flushing Town Hall, reiterated the importance of the film in making sure the memory of 9/11 lives on.
“We all have a Sept. 11 story, we all remember where we were and what we were doing when it happened,” she said. “It’s so crucial that we not forget these stories and not forget to pass them on to the younger generation.”
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
