22nd Annual 9/11 Truth Film Festival Marks the 25th Anniversary in Oakland
On Tuesday, September 8, the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance will hold its 22nd Annual 9/11 Truth Film Festival at Oakland’s historic Grand Lake Theatre.
The gathering comes during the week marking twenty-five years since September 11, 2001, and continues one of the longest-running annual events organized by the 9/11 Truth movement.
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
3:00–10:00 PM
Grand Lake Theatre
3200 Grand Avenue
Oakland, California
The festival will bring together documentary films, archival material and speakers examining September 11 and its aftermath, along with broader questions of war, civil liberties and political accountability.
Featured Films
The Responders: Breaking the Silence
The festival will include a sneak preview of the new documentary The Responders: Breaking the Silence, produced by Libby Handros and Ted Walter and directed by John Kirby.
Built around testimony from first responders and others who have continued asking questions about September 11, the film combines interviews with archival footage examining their experiences on 9/11 and in the years that followed.
The Oakland screening will take place two days before the film’s theatrical premiere at the Turning the Tide: 9/11 — 25 Years Later conference in New York City.
Four Died Trying [Prologue]
Also screening is the prologue to Four Died Trying, produced by Libby Handros and directed by John Kirby.
The documentary project examines the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the political changes that followed their deaths.
The Demolition of Truth: Psychologists Examine 9/11
The program will also include excerpts from Charles Ewing Smith’s The Demolition of Truth: Psychologists Examine 9/11, which explores the psychological and social difficulties people encounter when confronting information that conflicts with established accounts of September 11.
Speakers
Scheduled speakers include Bruce de Torres, author of God, School, 9/11 and JFK: The Lies That Are Killing Us and the Truth That Sets Us Free, and Carol Brouillet, co-founder of the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance and a longtime organizer within the 9/11 Truth movement.
Remembering Kyle Hence
This year’s festival is dedicated to Kyle Fitz-Randolph Hence (1964–2025).
Hence was an early organizer in the 9/11 Truth movement and co-founded 9/11 CitizensWatch with John Judge. He was also executive producer and co-writer of the 2006 documentary 9/11: Press for Truth, which helped bring the experiences and unanswered questions of September 11 family members to a much wider audience.
His death last year marked the loss of one of the movement’s early organizers and media advocates.
The festival program includes a tribute to his life and work.
Twenty-Five Years Later
The Oakland gathering begins an unusual week of events surrounding the 25th anniversary.
Two days later, from September 10–13, family members, first responders, researchers, journalists and advocates will gather in New York City for Turning the Tide: 9/11 — 25 Years Later.
Together, the events reflect something easily lost when looking back across a quarter century: the effort to investigate September 11 and preserve its historical record was never confined to a single organization, investigation or generation.
In Northern California, that work has continued publicly every September for twenty-two years.
Festival information and complete schedule:
Visit the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance website.
Turning the Tide 2026:
September 10–13 · New York City and online.
