Copilot: UK trailer drops for provocative new film about 9/11 terrorist and his wife

German movie is based on the United 93 pilot Ziad Jarrah and his partner Aysel Sengun

The UK trailer has dropped for Copilot, a provocative new film about a 9/11 terrorist and his wife, The Independent can exclusively reveal.

Written and directed by German filmmaker Anne Zohra Berrached (24 Weeks), the film follows a couple, Lebanon-born Saeed (Roger Azar) and his Turkish girlfriend Asli (Canan Kir), who met as students in Hamburg in the Nineties.

Set in Germany over the course of five years, Copilot is based on the real-life story of the United 93 pilot Ziad Jarrah and his partner Aysel Sengun.

Jarrah was one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday 11 September, 2001.

“When sharp science student Asli meets charismatic Saeed in the mid-Nineties, it’s love at first sight,” reads the movie’s logline. “The lovers marry, and Asli swears to be true to Saeed and never betray his secrets. Their future looks bright, but as the 21^st century dawns, Saeed makes a decision that will not only shatter Asli’s dreams, but shake the whole world to the core.”

Berrached had no contact with the real wife of the terrorist – who was put under police protection after the attacks – when making this film.

The movie is one of a string of TV shows and films that will be released around the anniversary of the tragedy. Earlier this month, Channel 4 released a two-hour documentary called Children of 9/11: Our Story, which follows the life stories of six young people whose fathers died in the attacks before their children had the chance to know or even meet them.

Copilot is entirely told from Asli’s perspective and will be released a day before the 20^th anniversary of the terror attacks, on 10 September 2021.