Since birth Isabella has lived in Tribeca, New York City,
in the shadow of the World Trade Center towers. Her public
school, PS 234, was two blocks North of them and her local
park, the New York City equivalent of a backyard, was across
the street from the school. The Twin Towers served as her
north star, by which she learned to navigate her neighborhood
and recognize the way home. Her community -- the protected,
secure, and innocent world of her childhood -- was shattered
on September 11th.
Over the following months, Jezebel Productions filmed Isabella's
attempts to make sense of the enormity of sudden changes in
her life, most significantly her loss of innocence. Out of
her classroom window she had seen bodies falling from the
north tower, a sight she has been unable to forget but until
recently refused to talk about. Growing up is usually a gentle,
gradual process for middle class white girls in the Western
world; however Isabella's experiences have catapulted her
into a maturity beyond her years. The film focuses on her
personal journey since that fateful day, starting with her
evacuation from home and culminating in the reopening of her
neighborhood school in February 2002. |