“It’s a story in which hatred is finally overcome… by love.” Abramorama has unveiled the official trailer for a documentary film titled Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, from doc mastermind Alex Gibney. It premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to mostly good reviews, but that’s usually the case with Gibney’s films. Knife offers an intimate portrait of author Salman Rushdie in the aftermath of the 2022 knife attack that nearly took his life. More than 30 years after Iran issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses, Rushdie traveled to Chautauqua, New York, to speak about the US as a sanctuary for exiled writers & artists. He was attacked on stage, with life-altering injuries, including the loss of sight in one eye and nerve damage. The doc provides an unprecedented inside look at Rushdie’s recovery & life after the attack, including never-before-seen footage captured by his wife, acclaimed poet & writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths, alongside Rushdie’s own candid reflections on survival, creativity, love, and finding a way forward after an act of violence that fundamentally changed his life. It’s adapted directly from Rushdie’s memoir “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” – the doc film moves beyond the attack itself to explore his return to writing, his resilience, and his determination to continue creating despite the threats he has faced for decades. A powerful doc about survival and above all else the freedom of expression.
Official trailer for Alex Gibney’s doc Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, on YouTube:
More than 30 years after Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, a religious decree calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie over his novel The Satanic Verses, Rushdie traveled to Chautauqua to speak about the United States as a sanctuary for exiled writers and artists. The event marked the 20th anniversary of a writer-refuge program – a setting meant to celebrate safety and creative freedom. It was there that a young man rushed the stage, intent on killing him with a knife. Using excerpts from Rushdie’s works, including his powerful memoir “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder“, Alex Gibney’s film is both a striking testament to freedom of expression & a defiant response to the attempt on Rushdie’s life.
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie is directed by the prolific doc filmmaker Alex Gibney, of many other docs including The Last Gladiators, Mea Maxima Culpa, We Steal Secrets, The Armstrong Lie, Finding Fela, Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Zero Days, No Stone Unturned, The Inventor, Citizen K, Crazy Not Insane, Totally Under Control, The Crime of the Century, Agents of Chaos, Boom! Boom!: The World vs. Boris Becker, In Restless Dreams, Wise Guy: David Chase & The Sopranos, & many others. Produced by Alex Gibney, Erin Edeiken, Sruthi Pinnamaneni. This initially premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Abramorama debuts Gibney’s Knife doc in select US theaters starting September 17th, 2026. For more info, visit the film’s official site.
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