Film Forum

9/11’s UNSETTLED DUST

Lisa Katzman · 2021 · U.S. · 92 min

Executive Produced by Eric Overmyer and Charles Burnett Days after the 9/11 terrorist attack and collapse of the World Trade towers, EPA head Christine Todd Whitman declared that the air in New York City was safe—in spite of overwhelming sensory and scientific evidence to the contrary. 9/11’s UNSETTLED DUST examines the widespread dereliction of duty on the part of the EPA, and the Bush and Giuliani administrations for providing false assurances rather than protecting the public from environmental harms and their deadly health impacts. Several whistleblowers—including environmental attorney Joel Kupferman, journalist Juan Gonzalez, and EPA analyst Hugh Kaufman—reveal both the horrifically unprecedented extent of the toxins, and the political and economic motivations that kept those working at Ground Zero and the public in the dark; and the film follows John Feal, a former construction worker who lost a foot at Ground Zero, as he coalesces and leads a grassroots group of sick 9/11 responders, residents, and workers to call on members of Congress to pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. 9/11’s UNSETTLED DUST exposes the painful contradictions between the personal sacrifices made by the more than 50,000 men and women who toiled at Ground Zero to serve the common good and honor those who died, and the politicians and elected officials who for years praised 9/11 heroes for their patriotism yet denied both the personal cost these men and women paid for their heroism and their need for help. Film Forum presents this film on the 25th commemoration of the 9/11 attacks.