The French filmmaker who shot the only clear video of an airliner slamming into the World Trade Center’s North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001 initially thought it was a bizarre accident.
It didn’t take long for Jules Naudet to realize he was capturing a moment that would forever change history.
Naudet, 48, and his brother Gédéon, 51, were working on a small documentary about an FDNY rookie in 2001 when hijacked planes struck the twin towers in lower Manhattan on that tragic day.
“I’m doing this kind of cliche shot of the World Trade Center, panning to the firefighters in the middle of the street,” Jules told the Daily News. “At 8:46, we hear this very loud roar. ... I remember, as I’m filming the firefighters, I look up and I see, behind two buildings, an American Airlines flight, because I could read the logo on the tail.
“I said, ‘That’s very strange,’ and [as a] reflex or I don’t know what, I turn my camera, and that’s where I film that horrible image of the first plane crashing into the tower.”
The horrific footage they caught on camera that day — including rare scenes from inside one of the twin towers before they both came crashing down — was later made into a documentary, “9/11,″ that was originally released in 2002.
The documentary, which the brothers co-directed with actor and former firefighter James Hanlon, was acquired by CNN Films in 2016. The cable channel has since replayed the film with added interviews and an introduction by actor Denis Leary, whose Leary Firefighters Foundation supports departments throughout the United States.
CNN will re-air “9/11″ on Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT as the 20th anniversary of the tragedy approaches.
“Twenty years later, I think there’s a whole generation who might not have seen it, and just knows of Sept. 11 as a historical date and not really have an idea of what happened,” Jules told The News.
Jules accompanied firefighters that morning for a standard assignment near the World Trade Center. Gédéon remained at the firehouse with the then-rookie firefighter they were filming, Tony Benetatos, who is now an FDNY lieutenant.
Gédéon quickly made his way downtown toward the towers after learning of the attack, filming people along the way. He says he’d “never been more afraid in my life,” but was in awe of the firefighters who risked their lives to save others.
“I was looking for my brother, and it was a sense of complete fear, but not paralyzed fear, because I knew I had to find him,” Gédéon told The News. “I felt responsible toward our parents if anything happened to him.”
Jules initially assumed the first plane crash was just a tragic accident and followed firefighters into the North Tower with his camera rolling.
“It’s one of these crazy things where you’re right inside the eye of the storm, you have no clue what’s happening, but anyone 8,000 miles away, in front of a TV, knows much more than you do,” Jules said. “And then managing to get out, but still not realizing what happened. Radios are chaotic. It’s only, ‘Mayday! Mayday!’ "
That footage appears in the “9/11″ film, which is billed as the only documentary to feature video from inside the World Trade Center that day.
Jules ultimately spent about an hour and 20 minutes inside the North Tower, he said. The brothers reunited hours later, without realizing what the other had been doing at the scene.
“By the time I arrived down at the World Trade Center, the second plane hit the second tower, the South Tower, that I managed to catch on camera,” Gédéon recalled. “Then everybody basically ran out.”
Benetatos also responded to the scene and was there when the second tower came down.
The filmmakers remain inspired by the way New Yorkers came together to support each other amid the horror.
“We were surrounded by love from all around the world, and we were there for each other,” Jules said. “At least, that’s what we try to remember, because I think it’s a way for us to deal with our trauma, our depression that we had at that time.”
He and his sibling hope their film honors the firefighters and other first responders who risked their lives that day — hundreds of them dying in the line of duty.
“Firefighters, police, EMT and regular civilians did manage to save around 15,000 people on that day,” Gédéon said. “It’s incredible when you think about it.”
The “9/11″ film won the 2002 Emmy for outstanding non-fiction special (informational). The Naudet brothers have continued to work together on documentaries since, including the release last year of “Notre-Dame: Our Lady of Paris,” about the 2019 fire that damaged Paris’ famed Notre-Dame cathedral.
The brothers realize their 9/11 footage is special because they captured it at a time before everyone had cell phones with high-definition cameras in their pockets.
“I think one of the unique things from our documentary is really that perspective alongside the firefighters, alongside the people who were there, as it’s happening,” Jules said. “Especially for a younger generation, who are such a visual generation ... the way we filmed it [is almost as if] we had iPhones ... because it’s so close.”