9-11 movies in New York Film Festival

New York (SF) - This weekend, two controversial movies will be in United States theaters. The two have in common that they were both presented at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and both are about the terrorist attacks that occured on September 11th of 2001.

"United 93", directed by Paul Greengrass, tells the history of the 4th hijacked plane, that crashed on a Pennsylvanian field after passengers and crew fought with the terrorists who attempted to attack the Capitol building in Washington.

The film of 111 minutes, describes in real-time what happened that day on the plane, from the take-off to the crash in Pennsylvania. The director had the help and support of the victims' families and government agencies. "If those people, men and women, had not done what they did with unbelievable courage, there is no doubt that that plane would have struck the Capitol Building and destroyed it," Greengrass told AP.

The other movie with this subject is "Civil Duty", starred by the famous Egyptian actor Khaled Abol Naga, who is very pleased that his character is not stereotyped as a terrorist Arab.

Naga plays an Arab student who starts getting involved in racist accusations made by his neighbor, played by Peter Krause, after the September 11 attacks. "Middle Eastern and Egyptian actors usually only get to play terrorists, but in this movie I got to be the terrorized one. That was a refreshing twist. We feel that we're very misunderstood. For many Middle Eastern people, Egyptians, Arabs, they feel misunderstood, misrepresented. They feel their voices are unheard in the Western world," said Naga in a press conference.