Maiden Lane

I’m a photographer and filmmaker who lived a block and a half from the World Trade Center. On September 11, I documented what was happening as I experienced it—shooting stills and video while running from the collapsing towers. In the weeks and months that followed, I kept my camera rolling as my neighborhood was transformed by grief, spectacle, community, and survival.

For twenty-five years, my images have helped tell the story of 9/11 in major films, television productions, and at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Now I’m turning to my extensive firsthand archive to tell my own story—what I witnessed, and the emotional and physical repercussions of a world-changing event that overtook my home.

Cheryl Dunn’s 9/11 archive has been featured in major documentary films, television productions, and at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Selected Productions Featuring Licensed Archive Footage:

• MSNBC — America Remembers, 2001, Lester Holt
• HISTORY — 102 Minutes That Changed America, 2008 Winner, 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Special; recipient of two additional Emmy Awards
• 9/11 Memorial & Museum, 2014–present
• VICE Media — A World in Disarray, 2017
• HBO — NYC Epicenters 9/11 → 2021½, 2021, Directed by Spike Lee
• HISTORY — 9/11: I Was There, 2021
• BBC — Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World, Episode 6, “Are We Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer?”, 2021, Directed by Adam Curtis
• National Geographic — 9/11: One Day in America, 2021
• ESPN Films / 30 for 30 — Empire Skate, 2025, Directed by Josh Swade
• PBS — The New York Documentary Series, Episode 10, 2026, Directed by Rick Burns