Like Paul Thompson, twenty-something filmmakers Ray Nowosielski and John Duffy had been touched by September 11th but never thought much further about it. In the spring of 2003, during their last semester of film school at Columbia College in Chicago, a friend mentioned The Complete 9/11 Timeline in passing. That evening, Duffy and Nowosielski decided to take a look. They found themselves unable to stop reading, scrolling through the web site until being interrupted by sunrise.
Though the filmmakers had never had any interest in the genre of documentary, as the months passed, they grew to believe that this was a story the American public needed to hear. By the 2nd anniversary of September 11th, they were seeking the funding for what would eventually become ’9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH’. The first investor provided funds in May 2004, allowing for the start of pre-production. The long production phase kicked off with a trip to New York in September 2004.
In mid-2003, Hence had co-founded 9/11 CitizensWatch, an advocacy organization which monitored the activities of the 9/11 Commission on behalf of the public and was in close contact with the Family Steering Committee. He agreed to join the production as executive producer (eventually also becoming a co-producer and co-writer), and in the spring of 2005, helped them get interviews with three of the famous “Jersey widows” — another major turning point for the film.
Production wrapped in December 2005, and Hence approached Manhattan-based Globalvision (Beyond JFK, 1992; WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception, 2004) for help in completing the movie. Hence had worked with Globalvision co-founder Danny Schechter in 2004 to develop a never-completed 9/11 documentary.
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