Academy award-winning director Peter Jackson’s upcoming World War I documentary, titled They Shall Not Grow Old, will be premiered on October 16 as part of the BFI London Film Festival (October 10-October 21). The film will be simultaneously screened in 2D and 3D in selected theatres and venues across the United Kingdom.
They Shall Not Grow Old has been co-commissioned by the UK government’s First World War Centenary arts project 14-18 Now, and Imperial War Museums. It stitches together audio and video clippings from the archives of Imperial War Museums and BBC. Archival footage has been colourised and converted to 3D.
Jackson said in an official statement: “I wanted to reach through the fog of time and pull these men into the modern world, so they can regain their humanity once more — rather than be seen only as Charlie Chaplin-type figures in the vintage archive film. By using our computing power to erase the technical limitations of 100 year cinema, we can see and hear the Great War as they experienced it.”
Jackson has written, directed and produced the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012-14). He has also previously directed as Heavenly Creatures (1994), The Frighteners (1996) and The Lovely Bones (2009).