Paul McCartney September 11 documentary to be broadcast

Paul McCartney performs during a concert at Yankee Stadium in New York July 15, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

Called "The Love We Make", the documentary chronicles the personal journey through a devastated New York in 2001, and the planning and preparation of a benefit concert six weeks afterward.

McCartney was on a plane on the tarmac in New York on the morning of September 11 2001 which was grounded when hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers. McCartney returned to the city and later helped to organize the "Concert for New York City."

Shot in black and white, the film features footage of McCartney rehearsing for the concert, clips of him talking with New Yorkers on the city streets and backstage film featuring David Bowie, Mick Jagger, former President Bill Clinton, Leonardo DiCaprio and others.

"There was so much suffering as a result of 9/11 it's hard to imagine how one might bring relief to those who were impacted by the attacks, and honor those firefighters, police officers and rescue workers who lost their lives in their heroic attempt to help others. But Paul had the answer: music and a film that would tell the full story," the documentary's director Albert Maysles said.

"The Love We Make" -- whose title harks back to The Beatles 1969 song "The End" -- will be broadcast on Showtime on September 10, and is one of a slew of TV specials and books marking the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Maysles is one of America's pioneering documentary filmmakers and has made nonfiction films since the 1960s including "Gimme Shelter" about The Rolling Stones 1969 tour and "Grey Gardens" in 1975 that was made into a Broadway show and movie. His filmmaking brother David Maysles died in 1987.