Trailer Debuts for 'Top of the World,' a Documentary Short About the Restaurant That Sat Atop the Twin Towers
Deadline has exclusively debuted the trailer for "Top of the World," a documentary short that chronicles the life and loss of Windows on the World, the restaurant that occupied the 106th and 107th floors of the World Trade Center's North Tower (Deadline).
The restaurant opened in 1976 — fifty years ago this year — and became one of the most celebrated dining rooms in the United States. On the morning of September 11, 2001, 91 guests and 79 employees lost their lives in the terrorist attack that destroyed the twin towers.
Oscar-nominated directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West helm the short, produced by CNN Films, TIME Studios, and Tribeca Studios, with additional production from Montalto Pictures and Storyville Films. Cohen and West's previous credits include the 2019 Academy Award nominee "RBG," as well as "Julia" (2021), "My Name Is Pauli Murray" (2021), and "Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down" (2022).
The film weaves together interviews with surviving staff and observers. Among them: chef Michael Lomonaco, cellar master Kevin Zraly, hostess Nathalie Tolentino, and prep cook Sekou Siby, who together conjure the daily rhythms of a working kitchen perched 107 floors above lower Manhattan. Food writer Ruth Reichl and former WNBC anchor Carol Jenkins also appear.
Joe Baum, the restaurateur who created Windows on the World, is given a voice by actor Dennis Leary. Leary's performance draws from Baum's own words, preserved across decades of archival recordings. Baum died in 1998, three years before the attacks.
"Top of the World" will hold an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run at DCTV Firehouse Cinema in Manhattan from August 28 through September 3 — a one-week engagement designed to make the short eligible for Academy Award consideration. It then premieres on CNN on Monday, September 7, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, and streams on CNN.com/Watch and the CNN app starting Tuesday, September 8.
The short was first announced on May 13, 2026, as part of CNN's original programming slate for the year (CNN Press Room). The full producing team includes producers Ryan Biegel, Vicky Liu, and Holly Siegel. Executive producers span the partner studios: Amy Entelis and Roxanna Sherwood for CNN Films, Ben Bitonti and Loren Hammonds for TIME Studios, Katie Lee Biegel and Ryan Biegel for Montalto Pictures, and Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh for Tribeca Studios.
What gives the documentary its pull is the meeting of scale and intimacy. Windows on the World was a place of sweeping views and thousand-bottle wine lists — but the people who worked there were also the people who showed up for a Tuesday morning shift and never went home.
