Sourcing original 35mm nitrate footage shot during the first World War, Bill Morrison pieces together a unique visual exploration from footage that has never been viewed by modern audiences, and will never be seen again outside of this film. Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov created the score, commissioned and performed by the Kronos Quartet. Bill Morrison used exclusively 35mm nitrate films shot during the Great War, and made brand new scans from the originals. In many cases this is the last expression of these films – some original copies were determined to not be worth preserving beyond this transfer to digital media. All of the material was sourced from the nitrate vaults of The Library of Congress National Audio Visual Conservation Center. What we are left with is a glimpse of a war fought in fields, in trenches, and on the ground. Most of the footage shows some emulsion deterioration – the by-product of a history stored on an unstable base for 100 years. Through a veil of physical degradation, we see training exercises, and parades. Much of the battle footage was in fact re-enacted for the camera, as early motion picture cinematography did not lend itself to spontaneous or itinerant productions in war zones. We see a record of a war as a series of documents passed along to us like a message in a bottle. None is more powerful than the record of the film itself, made visible by its own deterioration. We are constantly reminded of its materiality: this film was out on these same fields with these soldiers 100 years ago, a collaborator, and a survivor.