Twenty years ago, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, New Yorkers from all walks of life felt compelled to overcome their sense of powerlessness by volunteering to help out in the recovery effort. They brought in supplies, set up relief stations, and for ten months fed and cared for the recovery workers. Many deep and unexpected — even unlikely — relationships developed out of this.
Using cinéma vérité footage, interviews and archival photographs, we follow several characters through a series of events reuniting them with each other after the closing of the site. Through their stories we present a portrait of the city within a city that was Ground Zero, and examine how an extremely diverse group of people transcended politics and culture in an effort to heal their city and themselves.
Susanna’s directorial debut, Columbia Pictures’ SHADRACH, starring Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell, opened the L.A. Film Festival, and screened at the Venice Film Festival and Tokyo Film Festival, among many others. Her narrative short, A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER, starring Richard Beymer and Ally Sheedy, won Special Jury Awards at the San Francisco and Houston Film Festivals. Susanna’s other directing credits include A&E Television’s 100 CENTRE STREET, created by Sidney Lumet, for which she also wrote; the web series ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE; and the award-winning narrative short, HOUSE OF TEETH, available on Amazon.
Susanna's feature documentary credits include 9/12: FROM CHAOS TO COMMUNITY about the volunteer community at Ground Zero, and OUT OF MY HEAD, which premiered at MoMA's Doc Fortnight and won Best International Documentary at the Melbourne documentary Film Festival. Her documentary short, MY FATHER'S NAME is currently on the festival circuit.