Digital stasis: the September 11 footage orphaned to YouTube
Video still of United Airlines Flight 175 on the morning of September 11, 2001
As images of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York circulate on our screens once again. Those who recall news coverage 20 years ago might experience a form of dissociative amnesia from the absence of images once synonymous with the event.
Shortly after American Airlines Flight 11 collided with the north tower at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, news crews instinctively positioned themselves due north of the impact zone. With the north face of the north tower ablaze and billowing smoke into the New York skyline, Lower Manhattan provided the most unobstructed views of 1 WTC.
But it would be footage of the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, colliding with the south tower (2 WTC) at 9:03 a.m. captured by two non-professional videographers; Canadian artist Luc Courchesne and Michael Hezarkhani, that would provide some of the most arresting images of that day.
Included in rolling new coverage in the days and weeks that followed, Courchesne and Hezarkhani’s footage would became inextricably linked our collective memories of the event. But today both clips are noticeably absent from commemorative news coverage and recently released documentaries Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (Netflix) and 9/11: Life Under Attack (ITV/History Channel).
With the eyes of world focused on the north tower, Hezarkhani single-handedly captured arguably the most visceral footage of the attack on the World Trade Center. Reportedly atop the Staten Island Ferry in New York Bay at the time. Hezarkhani’s camera was initially trained on the north tower, but when the Boeing 767’s engines roared overhead he instinctively zoomed out in time to capture it collide with the south tower’s superstructure.
In late 2019 we attempted to license Hezarkhani’s footage from a prominent image library as part of a series of screens we produced for ACMI’s new museum experience: The Story of the Moving Image. After initial enquiries regarding licensing fees, the discussions hit a wall when the vendor announced they were unable to contact the rights holder.
Although it’s been uploaded to YouTube and Daily Motion, Hezarkhani’s footage exists suspended in a digital stasis - available for anyone with an internet connection to see, but perpetually unable to re-enter circulation.
Eventually we settled on alternative footage of United Airlines Flight 175 on the morning of September 11, but it came with a caveat from the vendor: “do not use the plane hitting the tower”.
Shot from a helicopter by a professional news crew somewhere due north of Lower Manhattan, the moment of impact was completely obscured from view. Clearly our collective amnesia of September 11 footage works both ways.
This article is written with respect to the victims and survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people and injured thousands at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania.