Genre
Synopsis
My sister, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, was 27 years old when she was murdered on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Lizzie was a passenger on United Flight 93, the fourth of four commercial airliners hijacked that morning in a coordinated terrorist attack on the United States. Earlier that day, two hijacked planes had been flown into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; a third, had been flown into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. As the passengers and crew aboard Flight 93 learned of those attacks they voted to act and attempted to retake control of the aircraft. Their intervention prevented the plane from reaching its intended target—believed to have been the U.S. Capitol— because of this collaboration and heroism, no lives were lost on the ground when Flight 93 barreled over 575 mph into the ground in western Pennsylvania– killing everyone on board.
On this Tuesday in 2001 I was 14 years old. It was my second week of high school, the same school Lizzie attended and graduated from. I couldn’t make sense of the complicated geopolitical conflict that had just exploded my entire world, but I ached for my sister in a way that has shaped the trajectory of my life ever since. There was the Sarah before 9/11/2001, and there is the Sarah now. Now that I'm almost 40, I'm investigating what has been taken from me through trauma and time while I make a moveable memorial to my sister.
Bio
Sarah is a nonfiction storyteller with a unique ability to fold seamlessly into new situations. In the summer of 2021 Sarah field produced eight episodes of the docuseries THE LOST KITCHEN (Discovery+) in Freedom, Maine. Before that she story produced season three of TEEN MOM: YOUNG + PREGNANT (MTV) airing now on Tuesdays at 9pm EST. Sarah’s film credits include TOMBOY (SXSW 2020), THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON (Netflix), and 32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE (HBO). She earned an MFA in Social Documentary and Film from the School of Visual Arts and has a dual degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Fordham University — where she guest lectures on ethics in documentary.
