Northern Ireland

Belfast man Marcus Robinson on filming rebuilding of World Trade Center over 10 years

Marcus Robinson moved to New York to document the epic building project following the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Marcus Robinson moved to New York to document the epic building project following the 9/11 terrorist attack. Marcus Robinson moved to New York to document the epic building project following the 9/11 terrorist attack.

A BELFAST-born filmmaker has told how being from Northern Ireland gave him a unique perspective on the "resilience of the human spirit" during 10 years spent in New York filming the rebuilding the World Trade Center.

Bafta-winner Marcus Robinson said it took over four years just to convince authorities to let him document the mammoth construction.

He used static cameras and time lapse photography to document the new buildings rise out of the huge crater left when the Twin Towers collapsed after the worst terrorist attack on American soil.

Rebuilding the World Trade Center will be shown at a special screening at Parliament Buildings, Stormont on Monday evening to mark the 15th anniversary of the atrocity.

Mr Robinson mainly funded the project himself through the sale of his artwork, and was so determined to complete his vision he relocated to New York and made it his home.

"The last 10 years have been a rollercoaster and so much has happening in that time, but time is abstract, we all know where we were on the day the buildings were destroyed, 15 years have passed but it still feels very present," he said.

"Growing up in Belfast for me was heartbreaking with the Troubles as a backdrop to my childhood and so as soon as I could I left and moved to Paris, but growing up here gives you a unique perspective and I think that being from Ireland helped me when I started working on the World Trade Centre site.

"It is a story about a massive building project but it's much more than that, it's about the construction community and the challenges they faced, it's about human spirit over adversity.

"It hasn't always been an easy project but it is one I believed in, from when I first had the idea I knew the tale of rebuilding the site was one worth documenting."