• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Irish America

Irish America

Irish America

  • HOME
  • WHO WE ARE
    • ABOUT US
    • OUR CONTRIBUTORS
  • IN THIS ISSUE
  • HALL OF FAME
  • THE LISTS
    • BUSINESS 100
    • HALL OF FAME
    • HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES 50
    • WALL STREET 50
  • LIBRARY
  • TRAVEL
  • EVENTS

Irish Artist’s Documentary “Rebuilding the World Trade Center” Premiers on History

By Adam Farley, Deputy Editor
September 11, 2014

September 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment

A project eight-years in the making makes its U.S. premier tonight. Northern Irish filmmaker and artist Marcus Robinson’s award winning, mixed media documentary “Rebuilding the World Trade Center” debuts on the History Channel at 6:00 pm Eastern and Pacific. The documentary, which chronicles the construction of One World Trade Center from laying the foundation to the topping of the spire, was screened on Channel 4 in the U.K. in 2013 to critical and public acclaim.

On September 3rd at a screening event on the 68th floor of 4 World Trade Center, Robinson was presented with a BAFTA Television Craft Award for Photography – Factual by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts New York. Remarkably though, the project isn’t actually complete, and the two-hour History Channel special is just one part of a far greater artistic endeavor that mixes painting, sketches, film and digital imagery into a complete installation designed to open in conjunction with the completion of the entire World Trade Center site.

As with any work of this scale, Robinson is supported by numerous organizations, including Tourism Ireland, History Channel, BAFTA, Invest Northern Ireland, NI Bureau, and is being produced by Lion television. Gary Hanley, head of Invest Northern Ireland Americas said Robinson represents a new era for creative artists in Northern Ireland (even though he’s working in the U.S.). “His vision, tenacity, and determination is yet another example of the world class talent and creativity of our people,” he said.

Filmmaker Marcus Robinson with his 35mm film camera. Photo: Allan Tannenbaum.
Filmmaker Marcus Robinson with his 35mm film camera. Photo: Allan Tannenbaum.

“It’s a labor of love and it’s a labor of total commitment,” Robinson says in the film trailer. He arrived on site in 2006 and set up 13 time-lapse cameras around the site to document its progress. At first though, he was unsure how his project would be received by the construction workers he sought to capture in action.

“I didn’t know how guys were going to react if I turned up with pencils and paper…. And I was drawing and there were three towering figures above me and they all looked down and seemed interested in what I was doing and one guy said, ‘look, how would I get a drawing like that?’”

Robinson, who has created several documentaries on other large-scale construction projects, focuses as much on the site, its memory, and the reconstruction process as he does on the workers who are laboring to erect the edifice. Doing so, he presents voices not often heard in the debates around national consciousness, collective grief, and the symbolism of the site. But Robinson wants viewers to know they’re a part of it, from ironworkers to carpenters.

“They are healing a scar in the bedrock of the city, in its skyline,” he says. “And in many ways what they are doing is part of a much greater act of rebuilding and healing.”

“Rebuilding” focuses heavily on their personal stories too, many of which include a family history of construction work. For a lot of workers, their parents or grandparents helped build the original World Trade Center, giving this project a sense of collective closure and enduring legacy.

Ironworkers high on 1 World Trade.
Ironworkers high on 1 World Trade.

“We work out in the rain, the sun, the snow, and for the rest of my life or my children’s lives, I can say, ‘You know grandma or mommy helped build this building,’” Chantelle Campbell, a carpenter with Rogers and Son, says in the film.

But it’s not all serious, and Robinson captures the difficulty and comedy of constructing such a high profile building. The trailer for “Rebuilding” has Scott Zelenak, chief of surveyors for the Port Authority at the World Trade Center, touching on the constant struggle between engineers and designers.

“We’re talking about four or five of the world’s tallest buildings in one spot. The architects, the designers, the things that they are trying to do, are fantastic, believe me it’s utterly beautiful. But to be the guy who has to put it together? Is a helpless hopeless task,” he laughs.

“I don’t know how people go home at the end of the day and say ‘I just put up a 200-ton column.’ Where else does that happen?”

Only in New York.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anita Murphy says

    September 14, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    Where can we watch this?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Highlights

News
Articles and stories from Irish America.....
MORE

Hibernia
News from Ireland and happenings in Irish America.....
MORE

Those We Lost
Remembering some of the great Irish Americans who have passed.....
MORE

Slainte!
Discover Irish ancestry, predilections, and recipes.....
MORE

Photo Album
Irish America readers share the stories of their ancestors....
MORE

More Articles

  • Pope Adrian IV, King Henry II and The Siege of Ireland

    Pope Adrian IV, King Henry II and The Siege of Ireland

    On December 4, 1154, Nicholas Breakspear, the first and only Englishman to ascend to the papacy, was...
  • President Trump Proclaims Irish Heritage Month

    President Trump Proclaims Irish Heritage Month

    The President calls on Irish Americans to celebrate their "contributions to our Nation," adding,"Iri...
  • John Francis Spratt (1796–1871), Carmelite priest, philanthropist, and temperance reformer, was born January 1796 in Cork St., Dublin.

    The Friar and The Saint:How St. Valentine Came to Dublin

    A Carmelite priest was gifted the relics of Saint Valentine, now enshrined in Our Lady of Mount St....
  • Fostering Memorable Leadership, Relentless Drive, and Unity

    Fostering Memorable Leadership, Relentless Drive, and Unity

    On November 6, Duke Orthopaedics was honored to host Gen. Martin E. Dempsey (Ret.), former Chairman ...

Footer

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Give a Gift
  • Newsletter

Additional

  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 · IrishAmerica Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in