Building the World Trade Center

In the early 1980s, co-directors Zack Winestine and Joanne Pawlowski were hired by the Port Authority to make the official film about the construction of the World Trade Center. They spent nearly a year editing tens of thousands of feet of 16mm film that Port Authority cameramen shot throughout the construction process. The result is a unique record of the towers' rise, from the demolition of the pre-existing "Radio Row" neighborhood to the vertigo-inducing assembly of the structures themselves. As part of their contract, Winestine and Pawlowski were given two 16mm prints which they kept in their possession. The original materials and all other film prints were stored in the World Trade Center. Everything was destroyed on 9/11. For years, the film was only available as a severely-degraded VHS dub. In 2021, Winestine and Pawlowski made a 4K 16bit restoration of the film based on their mint 16mm print, allowing the film to be seen with its visual impact intact. Building the World Trade Center is a unique document relating to a momentous event in American history.