102 Minutes That Changed America
| Company type | Documentary television special |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television, Documentary film |
| Founded | September 11, 2008 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Documentary film |
| Parent | History Channel |
102 Minutes That Changed America is a documentary television special produced by the History Channel in the United States. It premiered without commercial interruption on September 11, 2008, coinciding with the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This film assembles amateur video clips from various contributors, edited to depict the unfolding events in real time.
Background
The documentary's title denotes the timeframe beginning with the initial strike of American Airlines Flight 11 at 8:46 AM and concluding with the North Tower's collapse at 10:28 AM, although the film extends slightly beyond these moments. It centers on incidents in New York City, utilizing primarily unedited footage captured by citizen journalists, emphasizing immediate local responses during the attacks. Alongside the main feature, an 18-minute companion short titled I-Witness to 9/11 presents interviews with nine individuals who recorded the original footage.
Much of the archival material was originally retained by U.S. government agencies and was only made available to the History Channel several years post-9/11.
Reception and legacy
The program drew an audience of 5.2 million viewers upon release. It was subsequently broadcast internationally on networks such as Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, France 3, History Channel Brazil, SBS6 in the Netherlands, and ZDF in Germany throughout 2009 and 2010. On September 7, 2021, it was featured on TV3 Catalonia’s Sense ficció program, where it achieved a record viewership of 345,000 and an 18.4% audience share—the highest for that series since May 2021.
On September 11, 2011, commemorating ten years since Flight 11 struck 1 World Trade Center, A&E Television Networks (History’s parent company) aired the documentary simultaneously across all their cable channels at 8:46 a.m. EDT.
Accolades
In 2009, this documentary earned three Primetime Emmy Awards from four nominations, including honors for:
- Outstanding Nonfiction Special
- Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming
- Outstanding Sound Mixing for Nonfiction Programming
It also received a nomination for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming.
See also
- 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers (book published in 2005)
- Hotel Ground Zero (television movie released in 2009)
- The Miracle of Stairway B (television special from 2006)
- World Trade Center (1973–2001)
- JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America
External links
- Articles with short description
- 2008 television films
- 2008 films
- History (American TV channel) original programming
- Documentary films about the September 11 attacks
- American documentary television films
- 2008 documentary films
- Television series about the history of the United States
- Films about high-rise fires
- Primetime Emmy Award–winning broadcasts
- 2000s English-language films
- 2000s American films
- English-language documentary films
- Collage television
- American collage films