Stars of "September 5" say the film poses timely questions about media role and consumption

Record ID: 1955135

  • Title: Stars of "September 5" say the film poses timely questions about media role and consumption
  • Date: 4th February 2025
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 4, 2025) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BENESCH POSING FOR PHOTOS PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, LEONIE BENESCH, SAYING: "You know, all the questions like what do we show? Is there such a thing as a neutral standpoint? Is it helpful to watch violence or potential violence live? Or maybe would it mak
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2025 21:37
  • Keywords: Ben Chaplin John Magaro Leonie Benesch Moritz Binder Peter Sarsgaard September 5 film September 5 movie Tim Fehlbaum
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA007862004022025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Drama thriller "September 5" takes a new approach to tell the true story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.
    Directed by Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum and boasting an accomplished ensemble cast including Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Leonie Benesch, the film follows the ABC Sports broadcasting team as they pivot from Olympics programming to covering the developing news story.
    On Sept. 5, 1972, during the 20th Olympic Games, members of the Israeli team were taken hostage at the poorly secured athletes' village by Palestinian gunmen from the Black September group.
    Within 24 hours, 11 Israelis, five Palestinians and a German policeman were dead after a stand-off and subsequent rescue effort erupted into gunfire.
    For the first time ever, the coverage of the attack, and the Games which continued as the events unfolded, played out live on television and was watched by millions of people. One rescue attempt had to be called off when police officers realised it was being broadcast live, and watched by the attackers.
    "This is a story where it's like a submarine, 900 million people looked through one periscope at this balcony waiting for something to happen. Now we live in this world where we have as many points of view as we have phones, and it's very difficult to figure out what the story is, never mind what we all feel about it," said Sarsgaard, who plays ABC Sports president Roone Arledge, at the movie's London premiere on Tuesday (February 4)
    "We're living in this hyper sensationalised media atmosphere and this was kind of the beginning of it," said Magaro, who plays Geoffrey Mason, the real-life head of the ABC Munich control room and inspiration for the film. "These were innocent people who were just doing their job, not realising that they were changing the way we consume news forever."
    "September 5" is almost entirely set in the ABC control room, with outside events playing on its multiple television monitors. The film team wove in real footage from the Olympics and the hostage crisis and assembled studio equipment and machines of the day to ensure an authentic look.
    "Some of these scenes in the Olympic Village we recreated for different reasons, maybe also out of respect, because we didn't want to show anyone who lost their life on that day. And other parts we recreated and then we mixed all of this together," said Fehlbaum.
    "All the screens were functioning, which normally they wouldn't bother with that, they'd put green on them, you know," said Chaplin, who plays the head of operations at ABC Sports, Marvin Bader. "(Fehlbaum) was absolutely passionate about it being as accurate as possible because it was a true story."
    The movie also depicts the moral dilemmas and ethical questions the team faced as the crisis deepened.
    "All the questions like, what do we show? Is there such a thing as a neutral standpoint? Is it helpful to watch violence or potential violence live?, the film raises all of these questions," Benesch said.
    "I think that the questions they had to ask themselves, the journalists back then, are still very relevant for any journalist now and also for all of us. I mean, most of us have a smartphone, have social media. So all these ethical questions, journalistic questions, are questions for everybody," added screenwriter Moritz Binder.
    "September 5" is produced by Hollywood star Sean Penn and its writers Binder, Fehlbaum and Alex David are up for a best original screenplay Oscar at next month's Academy Awards.
    "The moment we found out, that was completely crazy. And I thought maybe I have to sleep over it to realise it, but I'm still waiting for that moment to realise what happened there... It's overwhelming and great and such an honour," said Binder of the Oscar nomination.
    (Production: Will Russell, Hanna Rantala)
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