TOWER
In 1966, a gunman rode the elevator to the 27th floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire. TOWER, a documentary mixing animated and live-action, shares the untold story of America's first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.
Series
Premiere Date
February 14, 2017
Length
90 minutes
Funding Type
Awards & Recognition
Winner
2016 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) - Documentary Feature Special Jury Award
Winner
2016 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) - Louis Black “Lone Star” Award
Winner
2016 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) - Audience Award
Winner
2017 News and Documentary Emmy Awards - Outstanding Historical Documentary
Nominee
2017 Peabody Awards - George Foster Peabody Award
On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. It was America’s first mass school shooting. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand.
Drawn from first-hand accounts of an ensemble cast of witnesses, survivors and heroes, Tower, an action-packed, animated documentary, reframes the events of that day via the perspectives of those who lived through it and examines the effects of the shooting over the last 50 years. The lessons from that day are more relevant now than ever.