HBO’s Boston Marathon Bombing Documentary Debuts Tonight

Photo by HBO

A new documentary about the Boston Marathon bombings and aftermath debuts on HBO Monday night.

Directed by Emmy Award nominees Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg and produced in association with the Boston Globe, Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing is a gripping film that recounts the horrific events of the 2013 tragedy. The documentary also focuses on several survivors’ inspiring roads to recovery in the months and years following the attack.

Stern and Sundberg had been looking at different stories related to terrorism for over a year before deciding on the marathon bombings as their next film. The idea for the project came about as they watched how the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev unfolded.

“It really came out of that very first week when the Boston Marathon bombing trial had begun,” Sundberg said. “That trial clearly was opening an entire different set of stories and emotions. Things were coming out that nobody had seen before, and it really warranted a closer observation.”

Stern and Sundberg approached the story through the perspectives of the survivors in order to offer viewers a closer look at how the Boston Marathon bombings impacted people’s lives.

“We wanted the survivors’ stories, in many ways, to not just be about the visible scars, but the invisible ones as well,” Stern said.

Considering the many acts of terrorism that have taken place across the globe in the years since the attack in Boston, the filmmakers hope Marathon will show others how cities and communities can come together and find strength through dark times.

“We can embrace each other and help each other through hard times and we do that as Americans,” Stern said. “I believe now, more than ever, we need to come together as a world, as global citizens.”

‘Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing’ premieres on HBO, Monday, November 21, at 8 p.m.