About the Flight for Freedom Movie
The Flight for Freedom will be an uplifting documentary film showcasing the best of America, about people who came together from a divided state that mirrored our nation — across politics, religion, race and the urban-rural divide — for fellow Americans 3,000 miles away.
The Flight for Freedom will show America that if we could come together after 9/11, we can build trust and unity in our divided country today.
Based on the Book
The Flight for Freedom is based on Sally Ruth Bourrie’s award-winning book, Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11, which can be found in the Library of Congress and the
National 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
Sally covered the Flight for Freedom for The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. Now, she is driven to bring this powerful experience to film.
The Flight for Freedom will bring us the impact of 9/11 from a fresh perspective. We’ll see how the nation was deeply affected; Americans felt that the country had been attacked, not just New York City. The kinship Americans shared will be on display in this film’s remarkable people and their compelling stories.
The Power of Everyday People
Led by Portland Mayor Vera Katz, they were
a cross-section of America: bartenders, teachers, garlic farmers. In just three days, they held a memorial service at Union Square, went into Ground Zero, spoke at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s Blessing of the Animals and hosted dinner for 700 in hard-hit Chinatown.
This documentary will showcase the Freedom Fliers’ courage. Despite rising security threats on their last day, they appeared on Good Morning America and Regis and Kelly, opened the New York Stock Exchange and marched in the Columbus Day Parade, deluged with love from grateful New Yorkers. The Flight for Freedom played an important role in turning the city around, said former New York Governor George Pataki, who will also be interviewed.
Stories of Survival, Loss and Gratitude
The Flight for Freedom will provide an intimate, personal portrait of New Yorkers that we have never seen before. Oregonians will tell the stories of survival, loss and gratitude they received from traumatized survivors whose New York City was papered in “Missing” flyers and downtown covered in soot. We will witness the power in being present for another person.
Like a New Yorker who recounted her escape from Battery Park City in an impromptu encounter with the Freedom Fliers.
“I will never forget the Oregonians,” she said.
Now is the moment: 2026 will be the 25th anniversary of 9/11
