At the same time that Peter Jackson was creating his big-screen-worthy restoration of WWI footage, Erik Nelson embarked on a parallel journey into 15 hours of newly discovered out-takes of William Wyler’s 1944 documentary The Memphis Belle. The footage is from the deadliest period of aerial combat over Germany.
The resulting film, The Cold Blue, a documentary Erik Nelson rather aptly describes as “Dunkirk meets Koyaanisqatsi”. By way of description, The Cold Blue is an authentic, full-color restoration/remix of both celebrated and never-before-seen documentary footage directed by William Wyler. To accompany the remix of Wyler’s work, The Cold Blue features brand new accounts of that unforgettably harrowing experience by surviving “greatest generation” Eighth Air Force veterans, one for each position of the standard 10-man B-17 flight crew: pilot, co-pilot, waist gunner, bombardier etc. Supporting these first-person accounts, Wyler’s footage and Erik Nelson’s stunningly immersive edit, the film boasts an original surround-sound mix designed by David Hughes (Black Panther, Star Wars) and an original orchestral score by Richard Thompson.

Gian Luca Farinelli