Following the world premiere at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival this weekend, National Geographic Documentary Films and Greenwich Entertainment will release The Rescue, the latest film from award-winning directing duo E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin exclusively in theaters on October 8, 2021.
The film chronicles the enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of 12 boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand. Academy Award-winning directors and producers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin keep viewers on the edge of their seats as they use a wealth of never-before-seen material and exclusive interviews to piece together the high-stakes mission, highlight the efforts of the Royal Thai Navy SEALs and U.S. Special Forces, and detail the expert cave divers’ audacious venture to save the boys.
The film features interviews with critical rescue and support teams, including British cave divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, named to National Geographic’s 2019 list of Adventurers of the Year; Colonel Bhak Loharjun, the chief medical officer of the Royal Thai Army; Thanet Natisri, a groundwater expert based in Thailand at the time of the rescue; additional cave divers Chris Jewell, Jason Malison, Connor Roe, Josh Bratchley and Jim Warny; along with in-depth interviews with Australian divers Dr. Richard Harris and Craig Challen. The film brings to light the common humanity, incredible resilience and absolute morality that defines us as humans.
The Rescue grants viewers exclusive access into the tense meetings, conversations and timeline of events that led to the valiant rescue, seamlessly threading together the tough decisions that needed to be made as the minutes and days mounted and the boys’ chance of survival was at greater stake. In the tradition of their earlier films, FREE SOLO and “Meru,” Vasarhelyi and Chin document a profoundly daring physical feat, laying bare the details of the seemingly impossible rescue.
“This powerful story celebrates hope, compassion and human ingenuity when faced with impossible odds,'” said directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. “The way in which the divers and Thai community came together in the face of adversity truly represents humanity at its best. We are honored to once again work with National Geographic Documentary Films to shine new light on the unprecedented rescue that riveted audiences around the world.”
Watch the official trailer for The Rescue