Katie Lee Biegel has spoken about producing *Top of the World*, a CNN documentary short exploring the people behind Windows on the World, the restaurant that once occupied the 106th and 107th floors of the World Trade Center's north tower. Biegel, formerly of Food Network's *The Kitchen*, developed the project with her husband, producer Ryan Biegel, after being given Tom Roston's book *The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World* by chef Marc Murphy, a former Windows employee. The film matters as a tribute to the restaurant's staff and history ahead of the 9/11 attacks, in which 79 Windows employees and 91 guests were among nearly 3,000 people killed.

Directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, best known for *RBG* and the Julia Child documentary, the 40-minute film was made with Time and Tribeca Studios after Biegel fielded interest from around a dozen production companies; fundraising proved a major hurdle along the way. It traces Windows on the World from its 1970s opening through 1980s highs and lows, recovery after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and its culinary revival under chef Michael Lomonaco ahead of a planned 25th-anniversary celebration in 2001. Voices in the film include Denis Leary reading the words of the late restaurateur Joe Baum, alongside Lomonaco, food writer Ruth Reichl, wine expert Kevin Zraly, and staff members such as hostess Nathalie Tolentino and prep cook Sekou Siby, reflecting the restaurant's many immigrant employees. It premieres on CNN on Labor Day after a limited New York theatrical run from 28 August to 3 September.