Quick answer: Top of the World is a 2026 documentary short from CNN Films and TIME Studios about Windows on the World, the famous restaurant complex at the top of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, the film focuses on the restaurant’s staff, culture, ambition and legacy before its destruction in the September 11 attacks.
The documentary opened for a limited New York theatrical engagement on August 28, 2026, premiered on CNN on September 7 and became available through the CNN app the following day.
This is not primarily a minute-by-minute documentary about the attacks. It is a portrait of a workplace and community that existed before September 11 and of the people who made it special.
For a related 9/11 story on the site, read our 9/11 Reunited documentary guide.
Top of the World at a glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Top of the World |
| Directors | Betsy West and Julie Cohen |
| Producers | CNN Films and TIME Studios, with production partners |
| Subject | Windows on the World restaurant |
| Location | North Tower, World Trade Center |
| CNN premiere | September 7, 2026 |
| CNN app | Streaming from September 8, 2026 |
| Historical context | 25th anniversary of September 11 and 50th anniversary of the restaurant |
What is Top of the World about?
The documentary tells the story of Windows on the World before it became inseparable from the tragedy of September 11.
Located high in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the restaurant was famous for spectacular views of New York City.
But the film argues that the view was only part of its identity.
Windows on the World was also a workplace.
It employed people from many backgrounds and countries, creating a staff community inside one of the world’s most recognizable buildings.
By focusing on the employees, the documentary turns a famous location back into a human place.
That approach matters because public memory often reduces the towers to symbols.
The film asks viewers to remember that people worked, celebrated, argued, cooked, served guests and built careers there long before the buildings became historical shorthand for an attack.
What was Windows on the World?
Windows on the World was a restaurant and hospitality complex near the top of the North Tower.
It became known for its panoramic views, ambitious food program and status as a destination for New Yorkers and visitors.
The restaurant opened in 1976.
That anniversary is part of the reason the documentary arrives in 2026.
The year marks both fifty years since the restaurant’s opening and twenty-five years since the September 11 attacks.
Those two timelines allow the filmmakers to tell a fuller story.
The restaurant existed for a quarter century before 9/11.
The documentary wants viewers to remember that life.
Who directed Top of the World?
Betsy West and Julie Cohen directed the documentary short.
The filmmaking team is known for nonfiction work centered on real people and institutions.
Their approach here emphasizes oral history and personal memory.
Rather than treating Windows on the World only as an architectural landmark, they build the story through the people who worked there.
What role does Michael Lomonaco play in the story?
Chef Michael Lomonaco is one of the most recognizable surviving figures associated with Windows on the World.
He served as executive chef and helped shape the restaurant’s culinary identity.
Lomonaco survived September 11 because he was not in the restaurant when the attacks occurred.
His later reflections have become part of the public memory of Windows on the World.
The documentary uses stories like his to connect the restaurant’s professional ambition with the personal loss experienced by staff and survivors.
How many Windows on the World employees died on 9/11?
The attacks killed many people who worked at Windows on the World.
Contemporary reporting around the documentary has noted that 79 of Lomonaco’s colleagues died.
The number is difficult to absorb as a statistic.
The film’s purpose is to give some of those lives context.
A restaurant staff is made up of cooks, servers, managers, cleaners, hosts and other workers whose careers and relationships rarely become part of national history.
By returning attention to the staff, the documentary restores individuality to a place often discussed only as part of the towers.
What does Denis Leary do in the documentary?
CNN announced that Denis Leary joined the project to voice legendary restaurateur Joe Baum.
Baum was a major figure in the creation and identity of Windows on the World.
Using voice performance allows the documentary to incorporate his words and presence into the story even though the film is being made decades after the restaurant’s peak years.
Is Top of the World a 9/11 documentary?
Yes, but not in the most common sense.
It is connected directly to September 11 because the restaurant was inside the North Tower and many employees were killed.
However, the film is not primarily about explaining how the attacks happened.
Its main subject is the world that existed before the attacks and the cultural legacy that survived afterward.
That makes it useful as companion viewing to more traditional 9/11 documentaries.
A film like the Naudet brothers’ 9/11 captures the emergency response.
Top of the World captures a community whose normal life was permanently interrupted.
When did Top of the World premiere?
CNN Films announced a limited theatrical engagement at DCTV Firehouse Cinema in New York from August 28 through September 3, 2026.
The film then premiered on CNN on September 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
CNN said the documentary would stream on the CNN app beginning the next day.
Where can you watch Top of the World?
The most direct current option is the CNN app, subject to the availability and authentication rules in your region.
The film also aired on CNN.
Because streaming rights and access rules can change, viewers outside the United States should check whether CNN content is available through a local provider.
Is Top of the World on Netflix?
No Netflix release has been announced.
The documentary is a CNN Films and TIME Studios project, and its announced streaming home is the CNN app.
Why is the documentary especially timely in 2026?
The timing is built into the project.
2026 is the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
It is also the 50th anniversary of Windows on the World’s opening.
Those milestones create a natural moment to revisit the restaurant as more than a location in a tragedy.
A generation of viewers now knows the World Trade Center only through historical images.
The film gives them a chance to understand what the building meant during normal life.
Why the employee perspective matters
Large historical events can flatten people into categories: victim, survivor, first responder.
Those terms are important, but they do not describe a whole life.
A person who died on September 11 may also have been a chef learning a new technique, a server supporting a family, a recent immigrant building a career or a colleague everyone relied on during a busy shift.
The documentary’s restaurant perspective creates space for those identities.
That is what makes Top of the World more than another anniversary special.
FAQs
FAQs
It is about Windows on the World, the famous restaurant complex in the World Trade Center’s North Tower, and the community of people who worked there.
Betsy West and Julie Cohen directed the documentary.
It premiered on CNN on September 7, 2026.
CNN announced streaming through the CNN app beginning September 8, 2026.
No Netflix release has been announced.
No. September 11 is central to the story, but the documentary spends significant attention on the restaurant’s history and employees before the attacks.