Peter Jackson’s First World War film They Shall Not Grow Old, will be given its World Premiere as the Documentary Special Presentation at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival on October 16th.  The film will be simultaneously screened, in 2D and 3D to cinemas and special venues across the UK by Trafalgar Releasing and BFI LFF.

Co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts program 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 colorised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present never before seen detail.

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.”