My Trip to al-Qaeda Directed by Alex Gibney

“…offers what may be the definitive cinematic investigation of the cultural and historical roots of 9/11." The New York Times

In 2006, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright staged “My Trip to al-Qaeda,” a one-man play that explored the moral dilemmas he encountered while researching his bestselling book, “The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.”

Now, Academy Award^® winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) brings Wright’s off-Broadway show to the screen, chronicling fundamentalist Islam’s rise to power, as well as Wright’s struggle to maintain objectivity as a journalist in the wake of 9/11.

An official selection of 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA offers a crash course in modern Islamic fundamentalism. Wright’s footage and interviews range from the radicalization of future al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri after he and other Egyptians were imprisoned for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat, to the rise of Osama Bin Laden (son of a wealthy Saudi contractor) after he fought the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, to America’s current dilemma as a superpower in danger of overextending its military presence in a region filled with militants who prefer death over life. MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA blends portions of Wright’s play with backstage chats, archived television clips and footage of Wright’s interviews of people with ties to al-Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist movement.