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What do children know about what happened on September 11, 2001? How do they think and feel about it? Are they scared? What advice do they have for each other and for us on feeling better?
Kids of diverse backgrounds share their thoughts on a national tragedy and provide surprising words of wisdom and insight in the exclusive HBO special THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. Produced in consultation with the NYU Child Study Center, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, the film weaves live-action footage of young people with musical interludes featuring recordings of comforting songs by John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Woody Guthrie, the Byrds and others.
THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 is part of "The Parent Handbook," an innovative collection of family specials developed to help adults support the young people in their lives. Besides offering a unique window into the hearts and minds of children grappling with a changing world, the special will point viewers to web-based resources and feature a toll-free number that will offer a range of information for adults who want their children to move forward in healthy ways during troubled times.
From the production team of the award-winning HBO presentations "Goodnight Moon" and " 'Twas the Night," this unique special uses words and images of America's children to show how they were touched by September 11, 2001. Ranging from ages two to 11, the kids seen on the show were among more than 500 children interviewed across the United States in the nine months following the attacks.
Sometimes heart-tugging, often humorous, the interviews provide a portrait of a profoundly affected, yet hopeful and resilient, generation, as even the smallest kids wrestle with some of life's biggest questions, including: Why do bad things happen to good people? What is God's role during tragedies? Can we all live together in peace? Among those speaking are children who lost family on 9/11, kids who live in lower Manhattan, and children whose fathers serve in the U.S. military, as well as refugee children from Afghanistan, Burma and Burundi. Wajiha, a six-year old Muslim girl, wonders why God can't "stop the bad people." Three-year-old Shayne shares the ins and outs of firefighting as he pedals down the sidewalk, decked out in his uniform and fire engine.
Three girls who live at Tinker Air Force base in Oklahoma City muse on their fathers' occupations, with one observing, "My daddy had to go away to Saudi Arabia to keep us safe. That's his job." Six-year-old Keegan worries about his dad in the military, but knows he is protected by "angels circling him." Seven-year old Katie, whose father is deceased, offers advice to the children who lost parents on 9/11: "It's always going to be hard... it's like a mountain of sadness that gets smaller and smaller until it's just a little bump."
THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 offers a collage of voices supported by a soundtrack of songs about America and peace. Frank Sinatra sings a song celebrating American diversity in a 1945 clip of "The House I Live In," a short film that won him a Special Academy Award®. The program also includes animated segments by award-winning animator Maciek Albrecht, set to such classic songs as "Imagine," John Lennon's 1971 anthem of peace, and the Byrds' hit version of Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn!," whose reflections on suffering and healing are drawn from the Old Testament.
Besides reflecting the trauma of 9/11, kids offer ideas on feeling better and coping in stressful times. Some remedies are physical: "Relax, breathe in, breathe out!" Others are a question of mindset: "Think about butterflies and rainbows." Young as they are, these children convey a message of healing, and they understand that life brings the bad with the good, the tragic with the joyful. As six-year old Isadora puts it, "I feel something good is coming. It just hasn't happened yet."
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