Back to life: director Peter Jackson and the WETA visual effects house has done an extraordinary job restoring WW1 footage for the documentary ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’.

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD ****1/2 (99 minutes) MA

A long time World War 1 buff, Peter Jackson – best known as the director of mega-hits such as The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and King Kong, was approached three years ago by the Imperial War Museum to do “something interesting” with their archival footage. That was the only brief he received.

Without any vision in mind, Jackson wondered what the footage might look like if he deployed the might of the computing power at WETA, the award-winning company that has done the effects for all his films, to restoring the footage.

A test run produced results that amazed Jackson and his crew and promptly lead to the visually astonishing documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which has received universal acclaim.

An Oscar-winning A-list Hollywood director, Jackson did the film for no fee.

In this interview Jackson discusses the making of this extraordinary film.