I am so proud to announce this very special package of films about a day that changed our lives forever, Sept. 11. Today SnagFilms is launching a package of films about 9/11. We are supporting a great charitable cause and will match user contributions to the charity as well.

Here is the news release in full. Please read it and get involved.

SnagFilms Commemorates 9/11 with Online Film Retrospective, Featuring 7 Days In September

Will Stream Five Films Without Advertising

 Last update: 8:03 a.m. EDT Sept. 5, 2008

WASHINGTON, Sep 05, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — SnagFilms, which brings the best nonfiction films to the web audience and promotes viral web distribution through virtual movie theater widgets, today announced its first annual September 11th Remembrance in Film, with a slate of five documentary films, featuring the critically acclaimed 7 Days in September. The films will be available in their entirety, without commercial interruption, at both www.snagfilms.com and www.indiewire.com between today and September 12th, 2008.

 

In addition to 7 Days in September, the slate of films comprising the online Remembrance include: Afghanistan Revealed, Beyond Belief, Saint of 9/11, and We Are Family. Each of the five films illuminates the roots or results of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States. As with all of the more than 300 non-fiction films in SnagFilms’ library, each of these documentaries may be streamed for free online in their entirety, or “snagged” via a widget which can be embedded on a user’s website or social networking page. A special five-film “multiplex” widget will showcase all September 11th Remembrance in Film offerings, which are available for free, instantaneous viewing and without commercial interruption. Viewers will be encouraged to share their own memories and reflections on both www.snagfilms.com and www.indiewire.com.

 

Comprising footage culled from more than two-dozen filmmakers’ material produced on the day and immediate aftermath of September 11th, 2001, 7 Days in September has been called by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott “an almost unbearably powerful documentary.” Director Steven Rosenbaum wove together the journeys of 28 New Yorkers — each of whom recorded their most private experiences during the attacks on the World Trade Center, and the week that followed. The storytellers, included a postal worker, a college student, an artist, and Rosenbaum’s 11 year old son Max, who together captured the sorrow and solidarity of the 9/11 story.

 

Viewers of films presented by SnagFilms.com are encouraged to become “filmanthropists,” either by opening a new movie theater widget on their personal website or social networking page, or by contributing directly to a cause tied to the films they watch. Viewers who respond to the “support” button connected to any of the Remembrance films will be able to contribute funds to the National September 11th Memorial and Museum. The National September 11th Memorial and Museum is the builder, programmer, and operator of the Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero.

 

Additionally, SnagFilms announced it would match its viewers’ contributions during the Remembrance Week.

 

SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen said, “The seventh anniversary of 9/11 is a solemn occasion. Bringing these remarkable films — each with a different perspective on these events — to an online audience is an affirmation of SnagFilms’ vision and value. September 11, 2001 was a milestone in the development of the Internet as a global communications hub, as millions of people turned to the Web for news, or to communicate with one another. It is fitting that we utilize the web to share these films as part of an overall effort to remember and reflect. SnagFilms is honored to feature the first online streaming of 7 Days in September, and proud to match our viewers’ contributions to the National September 11th Memorial and Museum. And we are happy to offer these films not only free to viewers, but also without commercial interruption during this remembrance week.”

 

7 Days In September Director Steve Rosenbaum said, “Each year, the granular details of September 11th become harder to recollect – and more essential that we keep connected to. By enabling an online audience to view our film through such an intimate medium, 7 Days In September will continue to reach audiences that need it most – individuals ready to touch those memories and those days. I’m honored to be included in SnagFilms’ first-ever September 11th Remembrance in Film. I’m tremendously grateful to the National September 11th Memorial and Museum, whose mission is to keep alive memories of what happened when the World Trade Center was attacked, and am so pleased that, through SnagFilms, viewers of 7 Days in September will have an easy means of contributing directly to this great institution.”

 

SnagFilms founder and chairman Ted Leonsis said, “One of the reasons we created SnagFilms was to bring to a wider audience high quality documentaries that can really have an impact. Offering a web audience a chance to see these powerful films, add their own reflections, and support the Memorial — all as a way of commemorating September 11th — is something we uniquely can and must do.”

 

Capsule descriptions of the five full-length non-fiction films presented by SnagFilms in the first annual September 11th Remembrance in Film follow:

7 Days in September:

NY Times critic A.O. Scott called this “an almost unbearably powerful documentary.” He continued: “Because the film is limited in space and time, it presents a strictly street-level view of life (and death) in and around Lower Manhattan from the moment of the attacks until the following Tuesday. It recreates what those days felt like with excruciating precision: the wild panic, the moments of funereal calm, the spontaneous blossoming of solidarity and fellow feeling… to reconstruct the emotional geography of New York [in the week that followed 9-11] … the film’s undercurrent of hope is more persuasive than the therapeutic formulas that define so much of ‘Sept. 11.’.”

Saint of 9/11:

Saint of 9/11 reveals the extraordinary life of Father Mychal Judge, a beloved Fire Department Chaplain, whose great humanity and compassion for those in need culminate on 9/11 and end with loss of an unforgettable man.

Beyond Belief:

Beyond Belief is the film of two widowed mothers who lost their husbands in the planes that crashed on 9/11. The film traces the journey of these two women as they try to make sense of their loss and grief and which ultimately leads them to Afghanistan to help support Afghan widows who lost their husbands in that country’s conflict.

We Are Family:

We Are Family brings over 200 musicians, celebrities and personalities (including Queen Latifah, Spike Lee, Diana Ross and Angie Stone) to re-record the Nile Rodgers hit song “We Are Family” and brings the power and spirit of music to help begin the healing process after the events of 9/11.

Afghanistan Revealed:

National Geographic’s Afghanistan Revealed has author Sebastian Junger take you deep inside Afghanistan for the last interview with assassinated resistance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, in this portrait of a war-torn country and the lives of its people as they struggle against the Taliban. It is a harrowing journey that gives us insight into an ally and leader of the Afghani resistance against the terrorists – whose assassination of Massoud on September 10, 2001 lay the groundwork for the tragic attacks of 9/11.

About SnagFilms

SnagFilms features free ad-supported viewing of hundreds of award-winning titles from some of the greatest names in documentary film production and distribution. SnagFilms.com is a platform that lets viewers “snag” a film and put it anywhere on the web, making it easy to find and share films that shine a light on a cause. SnagFilms can be summed up in four words: Find. Watch. Snag. Support. The company was founded by digital entrepreneur, documentary film producer, sports entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Leonsis. Visit www.snagfilms.com. And here is a link to the actual SnagFilms page that runs the set of films and explains the charitable component.

Please spend some time watching these films. Snag a widget and show the films to your friends; on your blog; on your MySpace or Facebook page or on your website.

What better use of your digital real estate can there be? Stream these films free of charge and help us raise money for this solemn and important cause. I am so proud of SnagFilms and what it can do to help everyone become a “filmanthropist” and use this new Web 2.0 medium for a higher calling.