Jules and Gédéon Naudet

Jules Clément Naudet (born April 1973) and Thomas Gédéon Naudet (born March 1970) are French-American filmmakers. The brothers, residents of the United States since 1989 and citizens since 1999, were in New York City at the time of the September 11 attacks to film a documentary on members of the Engine 7, Ladder 1 firehouse in Lower Manhattan.

Jules captured the clearest footage of the first airplane, American Airlines Flight 11, hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center when he rode with Battalion 1 to investigate a suspected gas leak in a storm drain at the intersection of Church and Lispenard streets while filming a documentary about the FDNY. The footage shot in 2001 was made into the 2002 documentary 9/11. The video camera that Jules was using that captured Flight 11 crashing into the World Trade Center is now on display in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Early lives

thumb|The Sony DSR-PD150 [[camcorder used by Jules Naudet that captured Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center]]

Jules and Gédéon Naudet moved to New York City with their parents Jean-Jacques and Shiva, when they were teenagers. Both graduated from the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1995. During their first years at NYU, they both used the same ID card and only paid one tuition. The Naudet brothers became American citizens in 1999. additionally, a series of web camera images from Wolfgang Staehle show the approach of Flight 11 and the after-impact.

2004–present

In 2004 the Naudets produced Seamus, a "coming-of-age" story, with screenplay by the brothers and their 9/11 partner, James Hanlon.

The Naudets produced In God's Name, exploring current events through the thoughts of twelve spiritual leaders:

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Communion
Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Catholic Church
Mata Amritanandamayi, Hindu holy figure
Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, prominent Shi’ite Muslim leader
The Dalai Lama, head of Lama (Tibetan) Buddhism
Kitashirakawa Michihisa, High Priest of the Shinto Grand Shrine of Ise
Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church
Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and then President of the Lutheran World Federation
Frank Page, then President of the Southern Baptist Convention
Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque and president of Al-Azhar University and a prominent Sunni Muslim leader
Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the Sikhs' highest authority

It was first broadcast in the United States on December 23, 2007.

A companion book to the film, called In God's Name: Wisdom from the World's Great Spiritual Leaders, was published by National Geographic Books in March 2008.

Featuring interviews with all twenty living White House chiefs of staff and two presidents, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, their documentary The Presidents' Gatekeepers was broadcast on September 11, 2013, on Discovery Channel.

In June 2018, they released November 13: Attack on Paris on Netflix, a documentary featuring interviews about the November 2015 Paris attacks.

In collaboration with Chris Whipple, the Naudets produced and directed The Spymasters: CIA In the Crosshairs, which includes interviews with all twelve living (current and former) directors of central intelligence. It first aired on Showtime in the United States on November 28, 2015.

In 2022 they released January 6th on Discovery+, a documentary featuring interviews about the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

Personal lives

Jules Naudet is married to Jacqueline Longa, with two children. Gédéon is married to Aude C. and also has two children.

References

External links