Film captures NYC’s perpetual comebacks
At 9 a.m. one Tuesday, I was phoning Ric Burns, a gifted filmmaker.
His “New York: A Documentary Film” was finally wrapping up. The first five parts aired in 1999, showing a city that was merely created for commerce … then somehow became a cultural-social core for the world. Now, two years later, the final two chapters were ready.
It was a fascinating film, but during the interview, I kept noticing a commotion in the newsroom: At 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., planes had crashed into the World Trade Center.
In the weeks that followed, people would ignore most other things … including Burns’ films, which aired Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. A quarter-century later, he’s put things back in order; the new final chapters — spanning 9/11 and much more — air from 9-11 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 20-21) on PBS. Read more…
