Spielberg to film rebuilding of World Trade Center in New York

Oscar winning film director Steven Spielberg is set to make a TV documentary on the rebuilding of New York's World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the Sept. 11 2001 attacks.

The Science Channel said on Thursday that Spielberg would executive produce the six-part documentary series "Rebuilding Ground Zero", due to be shown in 2011.

The series will chronicle not just the engineering and building of the new 1,776-foot (541-meter) high skyscraper, but will seek to honor those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 airplane attack.

It will also examine the effect of the redevelopment on the lives of New Yorkers, the cable channel said.

"The rebuilding effort at Ground Zero is a compelling story of remembrance and renewal," New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

"The facts that Steven Spielberg - one of the great filmmakers of our time - will produce a documentary on it ensures that the story will be brought to life for people around the world for generations to come."

Science Channel said the series would use 3D, time-lapse cameras, computer modeling techniques and other high technology methods to bring the story to life.

The shimmering glass skyscraper, formerly known as the "Freedom Tower" but renamed One World Trade Center last year, will be the tallest building in the United States and the centerpiece of the new World Trade Center site. The site will also include a National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

Rebuilding efforts have been repeatedly stalled after legal fights with insurers, clashes over design and security and a failure to attract tenants.

Some 2,752 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001 when hijackers crashed two planes into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York's financial district.

Work on the Freedom Tower officially began in late 2006 and is scheduled to be completed in 2013.