Keshet International (KI) announced that it has completed a further raft of pre-sales for Top Hat Productions’ feature-length documentary Surviving 9/11 for the BBC. 

KI has finalized additional license deals for the landmark BBC commission marking the 20^th anniversary of 9/11 to The Seven Network in Australia, Globo in Brazil, CBC in Canada for both the CBC network and its French network Société Radio-Canada, TVNZ in New Zealand, DPG Media in Belgium, RTV in Slovenia, NRK in Norway, Sky Deutschland in Germany, KAN in Israel, AMC Networks International Southern Europe in Spain and Portugal for its Odisea/Odisseia channel, and Rai Documentari in Italy.  Hoopla Digital has also picked up the library streaming rights in the US and Canada. 

KI has previously announced sales of the documentary directed by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Arthur Cary, formerly known as 9/11: The Twenty-Year Anniversary, to Canal+ Group in France, TV2 in Denmark, TV4 in Sweden, RTL in the Netherlands, and Discovery in the United States.  Talks are still ongoing with other broadcast partners elsewhere in the world. 

Keren Shahar, KI’s COO and President of Distribution, says, “It’s difficult to express just how profoundly moving, empathetic and affecting this film really is. Two decades may have passed, but Arthur has brought a fresh and touching perspective to these tragic events by giving survivors, and the families of those who lost their lives, a platform to share their memories and convey how they are still processing their experiences today. Surviving 9/11 is powerful, emotional and most definitely must-watch.”

Monica Bartoli, Commissioning Editor of Rai Documentari says,“The tragic events of 9/11 are still felt today here in Italy and all around the globe. Securing this landmark documentary for a primetime slot on Rai1 means we can acknowledge the twentieth anniversary with a fitting tribute to those whose lives were changed forever.”

Filmmaker Arthur Cary comments,“I was 18 when 9/11 happened and it feels like the defining historical event of my life. It happened in America, but it changed the world, and I’m so pleased that this film will reach a truly international audience through these sales.”

Surviving 9/11 is a deeply personal film takes the form of two intertwining narratives; the two-hour period when terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed three of them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and the story of the 20 years since. Blending powerful testimony from American and British interviewees and personal and public archive the story of the day unfolds almost in real time. Visceral and detailed storytelling of moments on the day are interspersed with contemporary scenes that explore how the lives of individuals continue to be affected by those moments and through the indelible imprint on their lives we realize the effect that day had on our own lives and the wider world.  

Produced by Top Hat Productions, Surviving 9/11 is directed by Arthur Cary (The Last Survivors, War in the Blood) and produced by Chery Hockey, with Darren Kemp and BBC commissioning editor Hamish Fergusson as executive producers. Keshet International is distributing the feature documentary internationally, alongside a full scripted slate which includes Monster Scripted and X-Filme Creative Pool’s 8-part drama Furia (Viaplay and ZDF), and Koda Communications’ 8-part crime thriller Line in the Sand (Keshet 12).