Project Rebirth

Berkley Center Develops Lesson Plans for Rebirth

The Berkley Center worked with the Rebirth team to develop classroom and web-based resources for high school teachers, college professors, and community discussion leaders that examine the challenges to intercultural and interreligious understanding after traumatic events, especially in the period after the September 11th attacks. These teaching tools examine the causes and impacts of the attacks, the challenges they presented to intercultural and interreligious tolerance, the successes and failures of recovery and reconciliation efforts, and the lessons we can learn from the 9/11 recovery. The lesson plans are now available on the Berkley Center website (see the links on the right column of this page).

The Rebirth trailer is now available on the Project Rebirth website.

Theatrical Premieres:
August 26, 2011: Los Angeles, CA at Laemmle Royal Theater
August 26, 2011: Boston, MA at the Museum of Fine Arts
August 31, 2011: New York, NY at the IFC Center
September 2, 2011: Landsdown, PA at Cinema 16:9
September 9, 2011: Washington, DC at West End Cinema

Update from Sundance Film Festival 2011

Rebirth, a documentary about five individuals whose lives were changed forever by the September 11th attacks, premiered at Sundance to a standing ovation and enthusiastic reviews. The film, directed and co-produced by Jim Whitaker (C '90), was created as part of Project Rebirth, which plans to use the film's profits to further honor and assist survivors of traumatic disasters.

Whitaker first set up time-lapse cameras at Ground Zero early in 2002 (growing to 14 in total) and then set out to capture a "human time-lapse" of the reconstruction process occurring in the lives of survivors and members of their family. Hollywood Reporter said of the finished product, "The word 'inspiring' gets overused but Rebirth is really and truly inspiring."

Rebirth's Georgetown roots run deep. Besides Whitaker (C '90), Brian Rafferty (C '79) serves as Chairman of the Board of Project Rebirth, overseeing the philanthropic support for the film and the development of long-term projects to support trauma and disaster recovery. President John J. DeGioia (C'79) and alumni Nick Wood (B '90), Patrick Ryan, Jr. (C '90), Brian Sullivan (SFS '79), John Wood (B '85), Art Calcagnini (C '90), and Pat Leahy (C '90) also serve on the Board.

In partnership with Columbia University's Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), Georgetown's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) has led the creation of multimedia tools and the Project Rebirth Center, which will deliver interactive multi-media learning tools and therapeutic content to first responders, disaster response teams, and health care professionals. Georgetown's Film and Media Studies Program has engaged with Project Rebirth to explore the uses of film for social justice purposes. And Project Rebirth and Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs have built collaborations between the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and Georgetown professors who are interested in helping develop narrative and historical context for the museum as well as delivering public programming focused on the long-term ramifications of 9/11.

The Berkley Center hopes to help put the film to greater use. In a Huffington Post interview, Whitaker credited a film screening at Georgetown for showing him the documentary's educational potential. He said, "In doing that what I discovered was that there was a host of people who could actually use the raw interviews, and in a contained academic environment be able to study the interviews and learn from them. So I realized actually the power in what we had was the ability to learn from grief and then be able to transfer that knowledge into teaching and learning tools for students, beginning that process."

The Berkley Center plans to develop classroom resources for high school teachers, college professors and community discussion leaders to examine the challenges to intercultural and interreligious understanding after traumatic events, especially in the period after the September 11th attacks. These teaching tools will examine the causes and impacts of the attacks, the challenges they present to intercultural and interreligious/interfaith tolerance, the successes and failures of recovery and reconciliation efforts and the lessons we can learn from the 9/11 recovery.

Professor Michael Kessler, Associate Director of the Berkley Center, believes the film may open dialogue between diverse groups affected by the attacks. He said, "On its own the film is an amazing cinematic production but Rebirth has the potential to refocus some of the debates about 9/11. The film portrays the horrendous impact of ideological terrorism that cuts across the spectrum of American societies. Christians, Muslims, Jews alike, as well as persons from many other cultural and religious groups were harmed. Likewise, the film follows the rebuilding of lives over time and is a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. Whitaker turns a mirror to the subjects and captures their resilience as they work through tremendous loss, grief, and anger. Without intending to be, they become guides for our own journeys through life."

For reviews of the film:

Fox News

Hollywood Reporter

Screen Daily

Huffington Post



About the collaboration

The Center's collaboration with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (NS11MM) involves consultation between Georgetown faculty and museum leaders about the context, causes, and consequences of the attacks and the co-production of public events and educational resources about a range of issues surrounding the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. In the past year, the Berkley Center and the NS11MM jointly sponsored a symposium on After September 11th: Change in the Academy? This symposium explored the frequent observation that the attacks of 2001 "changed everything" and how scholars and disciplines have adapted or changed their approaches and topics, if at all, in the post-9/11 world.

Project Rebirth is a major film project led by alumni Jim Whitaker (C'90) and Brian Rafferty (C'79) that chronicles the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and the strength of the human spirit after 9/11. Project Rebirth is poised in the coming years to gain international attention, both as a wide-release film, and also by providing video content for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. An inaugural 9/11 Anniversary symposium was held on September 10-11, 2008 on the theme Film and Understanding Our Common Bonds of Loss. The symposium explored the use of films like Project Rebirth and other media to help individuals and communities rebuild from catastrophic events and break down barriers to interreligious and intercultural understanding.

Another project at Georgetown is run by the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS). In partnership with Columbia University's Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), CNDLS has developed the Project Rebirth Learning Collaboratory, a virtual environment for the study of documentary footage related to the effects of September 11, 2001. Built to complement a digital library of Project Rebirth's archival footage, the Project Rebirth Learning Collaboratory will create a social learning environment powered by flexible web-based tools to connect a broad community of researchers, educators, and community-based practitioners.