UNITED 93, the film about the fourth plan to be hijacked on September 11, 2001, has received its world premiere at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival.

The real-time movie, directed by Paul (The Bourne Supremacy) Greengrass, chronicles the fate of the passengers who fought with hijackers in a bid to win back control of the plane before it crashed in Pennsylvania.

It promises to be one of the most emotive films of the year given the controversy that already surrounds its trailer – which was withdrawn from some New York cinemas earlier this year on the grounds of sensitivity.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Tribeca screening was greeted with a mixed response even though most respected the film’s intentions and its sensitive portrayal of the events.

The biggest bone of contention surrounding the film has never been so much its content, but rather whether audiences were ready to confront the issues of 9/11 head on.

Festival found, Robert De Niro, had earlier defended its decision to show the film by predicting that “some will be ready, and some will not be ready” for it.

He added: “Not everyone is going to feel good, of course. But after four and a half years, it feels like the right thing to do.”

The film’s director, meanwhile, felt the festival was “the most appropriate place for the film to play first”, adding that it was “an honour and a privilege to bring this film here”.

The screening took place on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theatre and was attended by luminaries including New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly, Empire State Development chairman and commissioner Charles Gargano and former New York City fire commissioner Tom Von Essen, as well as celebrities such as Tom Selleck, Josh Lucas, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Frank Langella and Gabriel Byrne.

Most significantly, about 90 relatives of the victims of Flight 93 were also in attendance and received a standing ovation prior to the film going on screen. The movie was, of course, filmed with their consent and Paul Greengrass worked hard to ensure that it represented an accurate portrayal of the victims who lost their lives.

In presenting the film, De Niro told members of the audience: “Given our festival’s founding after September 11, for many of us, the story is difficult.”

But he added: “We applaud the participation of the family members – your participation means a lot.”

Greengrass, meanwhile, acknowledged the support he had received throughout the making of the film, both from relatives of the victims and from distributor, Universal Pictures.

“Our guides to the foundation and legitimacy of this film are the family members,” he said, before mentioning the air traffic controllers, servicemen and others he met with to study the 9/11 Commission Report.

“Universal also supported this film unswervingly,” he contined. “Like many, they believe in the power of cinema to challenge us and change us.”

Universal has also stated that 10% of the film’s opening-weekend gross is to be donated to a $30 million private capital campaign for a memorial to the victims.

As reaction to the screening begins to filter in, actor Gabriel Byrne told the Hollywood Reporter: “I can understand why some people don’t want to see the film, and I can see why there’s a compulsion to confront it, because in many ways we still haven’t confronted it.”

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