''The Space Between'' is a feature film written and directed by

Travis Fine Travis Lane Fine (born June 26, 1968) is an American actor, writer, director and producer, perhaps best known for his film '' Any Day Now'', and for his roles in '' Girl, Interrupted'' and ''The Young Riders''. Personal life Fine was born in Atl ...

that premiered at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. The film is a fictional account of a flight attendant who finds herself responsible for an unaccompanied minor on the morning of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. It has won three film awards. It had its U.S. television premiere on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

on Sunday, 11 September 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

Plot summary

Montine McLeod (

Melissa Leo Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Critics' Choice ...

) is a flight attendant who gets stuck with nine-year-old Pakistani-American Omar Hassan (Anthony Keyvan) after their flight from New York City to Los Angeles gets grounded in

Longview, Texas Longview is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and county seat of Gregg County, Texas, Gregg County; a small part of Longview extends into the western portion of neighboring Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County. Longview is located in East Tex ...

on the morning of 11 September 2001. Omar is an

unaccompanied minor An unaccompanied minor (sometimes "unaccompanied child" or "separated child") is a child without the presence of a legal guardian. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child defines unaccompanied minors and unaccompanied children as those "who ...

; in the chaos that ensues, Montine becomes his temporary guardian. Montine later discovers that Omar's father works in the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

. She decides to drive the boy home after he informs her his father is at home waiting for him in New York. On the journey, they begin to bond and learn more about each other. Montine makes a stop on the way to New York as she receives a call that her mother is dying. Upon arriving at her mother's house, she finds her mother already dead. After dealing with her mother's death, she continues on the road to take Omar home. When they get there, they learn Omar's father has not been home in the two days since the destruction of the Twin Towers. Later that night, Montine receives a call from her employer and is forced to bring Omar with her. At the ensuing meeting, Montine is terminated for the unauthorized trip; Omar is taken from her and given to his school head master for the night before leaving for a new school the following day (the reason he was on the original flight). The day Omar is set to leave for Los Angeles, he locks himself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. Montine is asked to come; she coaxes Omar out of the bathroom and she walks him to his flight to Los Angeles.

Cast

as Montine McLeod * Anthony Keyvan as Omar Hassan *

Brad William Henke Brad William Henke (April 10, 1966 – November 29, 2022) was an American actor and National Football League and Arena Football League player. He was best known for his role as Corrections Officer Desi Piscatella on ''Orange Is the New Black'', f ...

as Will *

AnnaSophia Robb AnnaSophia Robb (born December 8, 1993) is an American actress, model, and singer. She began as a child actress on television, making her leading debut as the titular role in '' Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'' (2004). She made her feature ...

as Samantha "Sam" Jean McLeod * Phillip Rhys as Maliq *

Hunter Parrish Hunter Parrish Tharp (born May 13, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He is known for playing the role of Silas Botwin in the Showtime series '' Weeds'' and for his performances in the Broadway productions of ''Godspell'' in the role of Jesu ...

as McDonough *

Kyle Bornheimer Kyle Edward Bornheimer (born September 10, 1975) is an American actor and comedian known for his roles on the sitcoms ''Worst Week'', ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', '' Casual'', and '' Playing House''. Life and career Bornheimer was born in Mishawaka, ...

Kelli Williams Kelli Renee Williams (born June 8, 1970) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as lawyer, Lindsay Dole on the legal drama ''The Practice'', psychologist and deception expert Dr. Gillian Foster on ''Lie to Me'', and Jac ...

as Junkie *

Don Franklin Don Franklin (born December 14, 1960) is an American actor, best known for his roles in ''seaQuest DSV'' as Commander Jonathan Ford, '' Seven Days'' as Captain Craig Donovan, and as one of ''The Young Riders'' (Noah Dixon). Biography Franklin ...

as Paul Ehrlich *

Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in ''The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), Goo ...

as Used Car Salesman * Sayed Badreya as Imam

External links

Movie site

Review at DVDTalk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Space Between, The 2010 films 2010s drama road movies American drama road movies Films based on the September 11 attacks 2010 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films