TO HELL AND BACK PROJECT
A cultural-historical initiative dedicated to the visual memory of the First World War (WWI)
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To Hell and Back Project — First World War Film Restoration
To Hell and Back Project — First World War Film Restoration
To Hell and Back Project is a cultural-historical initiative dedicated to recovering, contextualizing, and restoring the surviving films of the First World War, forgotten frontline films, misidentified reels, and fragments of moments not understood or seen in more than a century. Through global archival research, high-resolution restoration, and collaboration with world-leading historians and restoration experts, the project brings their reality back into focus with authenticity, dignity, and historical precision.
Still from a film capturing German soldiers celebrating their officer having been awarded the Iron Cross, East Prussia, September 1914.
Still from a film capturing Austro-Hungarian Soldiers on march in Northern Romania, August 1917.
Project Team
Project Team
Advisory Board & Project Leadership
Founder & Researcher – Storm Alexander Hammer Boysen
Executive Producer – J. David Brandenburg
Historical Advisor – Prof. Dr. Gerhard Hirschfeld
Historical Advisor – Prof. Jay Winter
Academic Advisor – Prof. Dr. Marcel Will
Film Restoration Advisor – Robert A. Harris
Cultural Affairs Advisor – Kalman Sporn
News from To Hell and Back Project
January 31, 2026
June 1918 Close-Quarters Combat Footage: Preliminary Assessment
June 1918 Close-Quarters Combat Footage: Preliminary Assessment
Reconstructed combat film from the Montello Ridge during the Battle of the Solstice, now viewable in high clarity. Expert review at the Danish Film Institute set for March 26, 2026
Illustration depicting German soldiers capturing a crater on the Western Front.
Professor Jay Winter in Reims, France, (2017)
January 18, 2026
Professor Jay Winter joins To Hell and Back Project as historical advisor
Professor Jay Winter joins To Hell and Back Project as historical advisor
Professor Jay Winter (Yale University), one of the world’s leading historians of the First World War, has joined To Hell and Back Project as a historical advisor.
January 17, 2026
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum confirmed for DFI research screening of frontline footage
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum confirmed for DFI research screening of frontline footage
The Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien has confirmed that it will take part in the forthcoming closed research screening at the Danish Film Institute in Copenhagen.
The screening will present newly preserved and reconstructed First World War frontline combat footage, including material documenting close-range combat filmed at the front in 1918.
Heeresgeschichtliche Museum Wien, Museum of Military History Vienna
Still from a film showing an Austro-Hungarian Schwarzlose machine-gun position on the Montello Hillside in June 1918.
December 9, 2025
To Hell and Back Project Successfully Funds Heritage Preservation Campaign.
To Hell and Back Project Successfully Funds Heritage Preservation Campaign.
The To Hell and Back Project has raised more than $3,600 in 52 hours to fund the 4K preservation scan and reconstruction of what is possibly among the first known close-quarters frontline combat footage of the First World War.
November 29, 2025
Upcoming Event: Closed Research Screening at the Danish Film Institute (DFI)
Upcoming Event: Closed Research Screening at the Danish Film Institute (DFI)
A private research screening will be held at the Danish Film Institute in early 2026, featuring newly discovered frontline footage and participation from military specialists and historians from Austria, Hungary, and Denmark.
Danish Film Institute (DFI)
Still from a film showing soldiers retreating under machine-gun fire in June 1918.
November 28, 2025
Possible Frontline Combat Footage of the First World War
Possible Frontline Combat Footage of the First World War
Rediscovered film fragments reveals what may be among the first known examples of close-quarters frontline combat footage of the First World War.
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