Published Sep 7, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT
These 13 documentaries follow the people who lived through 9/11 and its aftermath, with viewing options on Netflix, Hulu, Tubi and YouTube.
Jules and Gédéon Naudet were making a documentary about a rookie New York firefighter when the Sept. 11 attacks happened. Their project became a record of the rescue effort inside the World Trade Center, filmed by people who had no way of knowing what would happen next. Twenty-five years later, footage like theirs still has something to tell us. So do the accounts of Pentagon survivors and families who have spent the years since living with a loss the rest of the country remembers each September. For veterans of the wars that followed, that history can be deeply personal. These 13 documentaries cover the attacks and the lives they changed, from a 12-minute account of the Manhattan boat evacuation to a series tracing the war on terror. Several are available free.
9/11: One Day in America (2021)
Start here if you want a detailed account of the day. National Geographic’s six-part series follows the attacks through archival footage and testimony from people who survived them. Its length gives those accounts room to develop beyond the brief recollections that often appear in anniversary coverage. Made in collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the series won the documentary Emmy for outstanding historical documentary. It’s a substantial time commitment, but a useful foundation for understanding the other films on this list.
