Since finishing his second trip to Middle-earth via wrapping up the Hobbit trilogy, Peter Jackson has been taking things a little easier. He's been developing other movies and producing projects including Mortal Engines, but he's getting back behind the camera himself for an untitled documentary about World War I.
Using exclusive archive footage drawn from the libraries of both the Imperial War Museum and the BBC, he'll also be hand-colorizing and 3D digitize the results, restoring never-before-seen material with modern techniques. Tied in with the conflict's centenary, the aim is to premiere the film at the BFI London Film Festival this autumn, accompanied by screenings in cinemas around the country. It'll later be shown on BBC One along with a behind-the-scenes documentary about what went into making it.
"I’ve always been fascinated by the First World War due to my own family history and the Centenary felt like a unique opportunity to make a personal contribution to the commemoration," Jackson says. "I wanted to find a way to bring new life to the stories of ordinary people living through extraordinary times." There's no indication at this time as to whether the doc will be three hours long...
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