Filmmaker Phil Furey has created a masterful documentary presentation telling the story of an extraordinary group of survivors of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 who banded together for a difficult fight for truth and justice. SINCE: THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 is a documentary feature film that highlights the similar yet unique journeys of Montauk residents Suse and Peter Lowenstein as well as the parents of two other victims since the loss of their children to terrorism in 1988.
Written, directed, and produced by Phil Furey, and edited and produced by Spencer Averick, SINCE was selected as the closing night film for the Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival in Sag Harbor [at the Bay Street Theater] on Sunday December 6th . I was fortunate to attend the film along with a few friends and we were all completely absorbed and captivated by the presentation and content of the film. Furey creatively wove this difficult topic; complete with brutally honest interviews, on-site filming in Scotland, memories and photos of the victims, and original news clips spanning from the 80’s to present time. It was both emotional and educational to watch the events unfold- many that we already knew and understood along with other facts or events that were brought to light throughout the film.
Terrorism being one of biggest problems facing humanity today, this film not only presents the struggles of the families of the 270 victims of Pan Am Flight 103 who have lived with it for decades, but the ramifications of these events touch the heart and soul of every human ever affected, whether by the news or with a personal connection to terrorism occurring in our world each day.
–The film uncovers the truth that the survivors of this one act of terrorism endured and how they bound together when a bomb ripped the New York-bound 747 jumbo jet into pieces over Lockerbie, Scotland, just before Christmas in 1988. Flight 103 families faced one traumatic injustice after another; from the early days when an unprepared U.S. government left the relatives to fend for themselves against a greedy, once-iconic airline, to the modern era, when the only man convicted of the crime was set free in a backdoor oil deal with Libya, the families refused to go down without a fight, harnessing the power of the media in their war for truth and justice. SINCE: THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 is a feature documentary that tells the story of some of these first victims of terrorism, who proved that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary feats in the wake of politically fueled mass murder. www.since103.com
Suse and Peter Lowenstein, as well as filmmaker Phil Furey, were in attendance for a Q&A that followed the film. The Lowensteins were extremely pleased and thankful to Phil Furey for taking such professional and delicate care of this very personal topic that is near and dear to their hearts.
Phil Furey is a Los Angeles-based television news producer and reporter for the Reuters news agency, as well as a film score composer and vocalist. SINCE: THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 is his first documentary film feature.
If you know the Lowensteins or have had the privilege of visiting their home to view Suse’s sculptures “Dark Elegy” you know of their first hand experience with terrorism and loss. They tragically lost their son Alexander, a student at Syracuse University, on December 21, 1988 when Pan Am flight 103, from London to NY went down over Lockerbie, Scotland in an act of terrorism. Dark Elegy is a product of Suse’s artistic grievance therapy during the months and years following their loss. Starting with herself, she created a self sculpture of the moment she heard the news of her son. Wanting to expand the project to include as many family members as possible, she extended an invitation to all family members of the victims of flight 103; about eighty mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, and grandmothers accepted the invitation to pose. The garden, depicting raw emotions shared by all surviving member of any act of terrorism, can be viewed daily from 10am-12pm at the Lowenstein’s home at 11 East Lake Dr.
