TO HELL AND BACK PROJECT
A cultural-historical initiative dedicated to the visual memory of the First World War
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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
Historical Advisor – Prof. Dr. Manfried Rauchensteiner
Academic Advisor – Prof. Dr. Marcel Will
Film Restoration Advisor – Robert A. Harris
Cultural Affairs Advisor – Kalman Sporn
News from To Hell and Back Project
April 8, 2025
Prof. Dr. Manfried Rauchensteiner joins To Hell and Back Project as historical advisor
Prof. Dr. Manfried Rauchensteiner joins To Hell and Back Project as historical advisor
Manfried Rauchensteiner, one of the leading historians of the Habsburg Monarchy in the First World War and A former Director of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna, has joined To Hell and Back Project as a historical advisor.
Prof. Dr. Manfried Rauchensteiner
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.
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 Hungary and Denmark.
Danish Film Institute (DFI)
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