Temple Beth Ami will host a memorial screening of the acclaimed film “The Space Between” by local writer, director and producer Travis Fine on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m., marking the 10^th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

It’s a special preview of the film, which debuted last year at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and premieres on the USA Network Sunday night at 9, along with a companion film, “Twin Towers,” produced by Dick Wolf (“Law & Order”). The presentations will be commercial-free.

“The Space Between” is the story of two very unlikely people thrown together in the chaos and aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Fine said.

“Melissa Leo, who just recently on an Oscar for her performance in ‘The Fighter,’ plays Montine McLeod, a flight attendant who is anything but maternal,” he said. “On her plane is a 10-year-old Pakistani-American boy named Omar Hassan played by a really incredible newcomer, a kid by the name of Anthony Cabon.

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“They’re traveling from New York to Los Angeles on the morning of Sept. 11 and their plane is grounded, as all planes were, and she is literally handed the boy by the airline and told to take care of him,” Fine said. “And with all the chaos around them, with all the news reports, she finds the boy crying and learns that he a very direct and very personal connection to the attacks. And then they have to figure out how to get home. So the second act of the film is their journey home from Longview, Texas to New York.”

Fine, a Santa Clarita Valley resident, and his family are members of Temple Beth Ami.

“Rabbi (Mark) Blazer saw the movie when it first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, and he mentioned he would like to do something on the 10^th anniversary,” Fine said. “At the time we hadn’t sold the picture yet, and it worked out very nicely that it’s now going to be premiering the same night on the USA Network. This will allow the Beth Ami congregants and friends and people I’ve known for a long time to see it literally as it’s airing on the East Coast.”

Though the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was experienced by all Americans at the time, individuals reacted to it in highly personal ways, Fine said. “For me, it led me away from the entertainment business. I was working primarily as an actor at the time. I ended up choosing to leave the entertainment business almost as a direct result of Sept. 11. I know of other people, some dear friends who lived right there in Battery City Park, who ended up moving to California and starting a new life here.”

“The Space Between” is a compelling story that puts the viewer right back in the harrowing hours and days after the attacks.

“My hope is that people who see the film will be reminded in and among the somber news reports and the somber reminders we’re going to get that day, they’re also going to see a picture which at the end shows some semblance of hope,” Fine said. “There is a sense that even in the darkest of nights, the stars can shine through and the next morning sun can come up. My hope and belief is that we’ll be reminded that on that day, at that moment, there was a certain connectedness to all of us, because we all experienced this event on our televisions or radios or in person, in some cases.”