They Shall Not Grow Old – a new film to mark the centenary of WW1

**~~Ford~~** · 06-13-2019, 04:03 PM

The British Council is proud to present a major new work by acclaimed director Peter Jackson to mark the centenary of the first world war’s end.

To tell the stories of soldiers on the Western front, Peter Jackson has created a visually staggering film – using state-of-the-art technology to restore the original archive film shot during the First World War.

They Shall Not Grow Old brings to life the people who can best tell this story: the men who were there. Driven by a personal interest in the conflict, Jackson set out to explore the day-to-day experience of its combatants immersing himself in the BBC’s and Imperial War Museums’ extensive archive.

The film explores the reality of war on the front line: their attitudes to the conflict; how they ate, rested and formed friendships in those moments between battles; as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.

Co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary, and Imperial War Museums, They Shall Not Grow Old has been created exclusively with original footage from Imperial War Museums’ film archive and audio from BBC archives.

Presenting his new work to mark the centenary of the First World War, the internationally renowned director Peter Jackson (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings) combined his personal fascination with the period and his Academy Award winning directorial skills to bring the First World War to life in a way never seen before. They Shall Not Grow Old uses the voices of the veterans combined with original archival footage to bring to life the reality of war on the front line for a whole new generation. Footage has been colourised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present never before seen detail.

Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Artistic Director, says:

“A hundred years after the First World War, we know much about the horrific impact of this conflict on its soldiers, especially the brutal scale of the casualties which decimated a generation, but Peter’s film offers new understanding of the human experience of life at the front. Using original audio and moving image archive he allows the soldiers to tell their own stories. The work his team have done on the materials, adding colour and converting to 3D, is painstaking and beautiful. It makes these people from 100 years ago seem so alive and gives an uncanny sense the footage was shot recently. It’s an honour to host the world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.”

Peter Jackson, director of They Shall Not Grow Old, comments:

“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.”