EXCLUSIVE: For 25 years, an international clientele dined in spectacular fashion at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center’s north tower, where guests were served by an equally international staff.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, 91 guests and 79 World employees would perish in the devastating terrorist attack on the twin towers. As the 25^th anniversary of that chilling day approaches, CNN Films, TIME Studios, and Tribeca Studios are set to release Top of the World, a documentary short about the famed restaurant directed by Oscar nominated filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West.

We have your exclusive first look at the film in the trailer above.

“Through intimate firsthand accounts from the former staff who made Windows on the World extraordinary,” notes a release, “Top of the World recreates the magical world that existed 107 stories above Manhattan, where fine dining, hospitality and the American dream converged.”

The documentary will hold an Oscar-qualifying run at DCTV Firehouse Cinema in Manhattan from Aug. 28-Sept. 3. The film premieres on CNN on Monday, Sept. 7 (8:00 p.m. ET/PT); Top of the World will stream at CNN.com/Watch and on the CNN app starting Tuesday, Sept. 8.  

Among those interviewed in the film are renowned chef Michael Lomonaco, longtime cellar master Kevin Zraly, hostess Nathalie Tolentino, and prep cook Sekou Siby, as well as food writer Ruth Reichl and former WNBC anchor Carol Jenkins.

Actor Dennis Leary has joined the project to voice the words of Joe Baum, the man who created Windows on the World, which opened 50 years ago this year. “Drawing from Baum’s own words preserved in decades of archival recordings,” the release states, “Leary gives voice to the restaurateur whose ambition and imagination helped shape the restaurant into a defining New York institution.”

Top of the World is a production of CNN Films, TIME Studios and Tribeca Studios, in association with Montalto Pictures, and Storyville Films. The film is directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, whose credits include RBG (2019 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song), Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (2022), Julia (2021), and My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021).

The short is produced by Ryan Biegel, Vicky Liu, and Holly Siegel. Executive producers include 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; Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh for Tribeca Studios; Kerianne Flynn for New Plot Films; Regina K Scully for Artemis Rising Foundation; and Oren Jacoby of Storyville Films.

Top of the World is edited by Ilya Chaiken; director of photography is Claudia Raschke. The film is inspired by the book The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World, by Tom Roston.

Watch the trailer for Top of the World above.