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Jules Naudet Finalist : The Rory Peck Award for Hard News Nominated: Sony International Impact Award
French "Plane hitting World Trade Center Tower" Shot: New York, September 11, 2001 Goldfish Pictures Inc./ (APTN / Gamma USA)
A sunny New York morning. Jules Naudet and his brother Gedeon are at work on their documentary about firefighters. Camera pointed downwards, Jules is filming a couple of rookie firefighters investigating a gas leak at the corner of Church Street and Lispenard Street. Above them comes a familiar sound which almost immediately becomes terrifyingly loud and unfamiliar. The firemen look up. Jules instinctively lifts his camera, locates the source of the noise, follows it and with an amazingly steady hand, captures the only picture of the first hijacked plane crashing at 300mph into the World Trade Centre.
It
may have been pure chance that he was filming at that moment, but the
judges recognised the speed of his response and the skill of his camerawork.
As TV journalism it had huge impact around the world.
"Well, this
is just THE shot isn't it?"
"It's in focus, in the middle of the frame, it's the first visual
testament and remains the single most key shot."
"When you hear an aircraft overhead, it's very difficult to hear
where it's going, and his reactions were amazing - He was only using a
mini DV - not a full camera with a good zoom. The plane was going at 300mph,
and he got where it was going and shot it." Judges' Comments
Biography
Jules Naudet, 28, and his brother Gedeon moved to New York City
from Paris in 1989. They both attended New York University film school,
graduating in 1995. Their first feature, Hope, Gloves and Redemption,
about young boxers in Spanish Harlem, took grand-jury honors in 2000 at
the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.
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