Exclusive | Attorney-turned-poet releases heartbreaking 9/11 short film: changed the fabric of NYC

A Staten Island attorney has spent a lifetime surrounded by the tragedies the 9/11 terror attack wrought — and has transformed the never-ending grief into a haunting short film.Matthew Baione, along with his wife Tina, will celebrate Thursday the screening of “8:48” at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, a feat they have dedicated to the thousands who lost their lives and their loved ones in the horror.“The number one thing people say if they lost someone in the attack — they all say the same thing: ‘I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” Matthew, 34, a poet and attorney for those battling 9/11-related illnesses, told The Post.“It’s true of me, it’s true of almost everybody.

And that’s what ‘8:48’ is for.”The two-minute-long film tells the story of a well-dressed man rushing to Staten Island’s iconic St.George Theatre for what he expects to be a normal event — only to find that “something’s not right.”The unnamed man, played by “Uncut Gems” actor and 9/11 first responder Keith W.

Richards, struggles to get inside as a woman dressed in black repeatedly croons “can’t be late, can’t be late.”By the time Richards swings the doors open, the curtains drop on the woman, now dressed in white, before he can make it to the stage.“That’s really supposed to just represent what happened on that day,” explained Tina, 39, adding that while the singer is meant to represent an angel, it should be left up to the viewer to determine what her fate might have been.“Is she already gone? Is she supposed to represent something? Is that the dichotomy between the light and dark that came out of that day?” Tina continued.“The song is inspired by 9/11, but I think it transcends that.In any tragedy, any event like that, there is a level of uncertainty and it’s personal and there’s individual stories within that.

We were trying to represent that through the video.”The haunting melody that plays throughout the ...