The Day The Sky Fell

Director Sally Squires Major events like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the shooting of JFK and the events of 9/11 have an impact which reverberates down through history. The events of 9/11 mean that New York will never be the same, we will never be the same, our lives will never be the same. On that day so many of us lost some of the confidence we had previously had that we knew what a normal world and what a normal life was. On that day some man who we did not know half a world away had decided to wreak havoc on us and our loved ones and take control of our lives like never before. If he could change our lives in what seemed like an instant how could we plan for our own future? Luckily those thoughts did not stop the thousands of rescue workers who toiled long and hard at the wreckage with hearts breaking as they carried out the most desperate search for survivors. Finally it became obvious that we all had to say goodbye to those who were lost that day. And so the spirit of New York rose from the smoke of the fires which had burned those many months signalling a new beginning. As I have watched the changes on a daily basis at the WTC site I have been just one witness to “living history”. It is not something I would have chosen to witness or to be a part of. It is not something that I would have willingly chosen to make a film about. I never planned to make this film and I would never plan to make another one like it but I felt that unless I recorded these events and the changes that were happening in New York every day, these scenes and sites would be forgotten. Let us never forget. Sometimes during this period of filming I felt like I was on two different planets…..spending time in a war zone and then walking back through New York’s nighttime streets with restaurants and diners sitting on the pavement as if nothing had happened just a few yards down the street. The outpouring of peace across the city at a time of devastating destruction was also a