Berlin, 1962. The Cold War has turned a divided city into a fault line between two worlds. As families are torn apart
overnight, groups of students begin digging tunnels beneath the newly built Wall, driven by hope and despera-
tion. What starts as an act of defiance soon attracts global attention.
Two American television networks — NBC and CBS — discover the secret operations and race to capture them on
film. In a moment of unprecedented moral risk, Reuven Frank, a daring NBC producer, agrees to fund a tunnel in
exchange for exclusive filming rights. His rival, Daniel Schorr at CBS, does the same — but one of his crew is a Stasi
informant, and betrayal is only a matter of time.
When President John F. Kennedy personally intervenes to suppress the CBS broadcast, the story becomes a colli-
sion between journalism, politics, and human freedom.
The NBC tunnel succeeds — twenty-nine people crawl to
freedom through the dark soil beneath the Wall, and their journey becomes one of the most powerful moments
ever filmed.
The resulting documentary, The Tunnel, would move President Kennedy to tears — and change the rules of televi-
sion forever.
Told through gripping reconstructions, rare archive footage, and exclusive testimony, The Escape Will Not Be Tele-