How Salman Rushdie and Rachel Eliza Griffiths Turned a Difficult Experience into a Meaningful Documentary

Salman Rushdie and Rachel Eliza Griffiths at Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25.
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NEED TO KNOW

• Salman Rushdie’s 2022 assassination attempt is the focus of his new documentary, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie
• The author and his wife, poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths, discussed the project during its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25.
• “I just think there are some things that you have to see for it to affect you,” Rushdie explained.

In August 2022, acclaimed author Salman Rushdie was stabbed onstage during a literary festival in Chautauqua, New York, suffering a total of 18 wounds. This brutal attack resulted in him losing vision in his right eye and significant impairment in his right hand.

The harrowing incident inspired Rushdie’s 2024 memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, as well as its documentary adaptation, directed by Alex Gibney. During the premiere in Park City, Utah, Rushdie, along with his wife Griffiths, reflected on how the film presents their experiences in a new light.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths and Salman Rushdie at Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25.

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“I just think there are some things that you have to see for it to affect you visually,” Rushdie said, emphasizing the film’s impact. “There’s stuff in this movie that is hardcore. I think it’s not easy to watch, but however good a writer you are, you can’t have that impact on the page because to see the effect of a terrorist attack, you have to see it. That’s one of the things we thought: let’s show people what this is like.”

Griffiths, who serves as a cinematographer on the film, captured footage in Rushdie’s hospital room following the incident. She reflected on their decision to share their private story: “For me, it was kind of letting go of the material,” she explained. “You want to hold onto it tightly because we’ve both been so private, but then there was no way we could be private anymore. Meeting Alex felt like a good signal to us to put the story out and trust his vision. And so I think we made the right decision.”

Salman Rushdie and Rachel Eliza Griffiths at Cliveden Literary Festival on Sept. 22, 2024.

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Rushdie conveyed mixed feelings about his identity in the wake of the assassination attempt, stating he does not view himself as a “symbol,” despite the intense international focus following the attack. “I know there are parts of the world in which Other Me has been turned into a kind of bogeyman. And I know there are parts of the world in which that Other Me is thought of more positively,” he remarked. “Both of them feel okay. But to me, I’m just this guy in a room thinking of something to write.”

The 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where the documentary premiered, will run from January 22 to February 1 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. This marks the festival’s final edition in Utah before relocating to Boulder, Colorado in 2027, and it is also the first festival since the passing of founder Robert Redford.