For more than two decades, a rarely seen recording of the World Trade Center attacks existed only on aging videotapes stored away in a closet. It was filmed by Kei Sugimoto from the rooftop of a building at 64 St. Marks Place in New York City, using a Sony VX2000 camera with a teleconverter lens.
At the time of the attacks in 2001, Sugimoto was 24 years old and initially believed he was witnessing a tragic accident unfolding in Lower Manhattan. After seeing the second plane strike, he realized the situation was far more serious and quickly began recording the scene from his rooftop vantage point.
The footage captures smoke rising heavily from both towers and the changing skyline of Manhattan as emergency responses begin. It provides a perspective that was not widely seen in mainstream broadcasts, which mostly came from different directions and closer ground-level positions.
Sugimoto later stored the tapes among other personal recordings, where they remained untouched for many years. Over time, many of the magnetic tapes began to degrade, and some were partially or completely corrupted, something he only discovered decades later.
While cleaning his home, he rediscovered the boxes of Hi-8, Digital-8, and DV tapes. Realizing that more of them could be lost, he started digitizing the recordings to preserve them before further damage occurred.
Among the recovered material was the September 11 footage, which he eventually uploaded online after more than 20 years. He stated that his intention was mainly archival, not public release, and that he had not originally treated it as something historically significant.
Once shared, the video quickly spread across the internet, as viewers reacted to the clarity and unusual angle of the recording, which showed the collapse of the towers from a less familiar perspective.
Today, the footage stands as a reminder that many historical moments still exist in private archives, and that what is preserved—or nearly lost—can resurface long after the events themselves have passed.