Experiencing a film is often experiencing the impossible- but for the crew of the documentary “The Rescue”, they were able to witness the impossible becoming possible. Focusing on the grand rescue of a children’s soccer team and their coach in a cave in Thailand, “The Rescue” is a study on the heroism and strength of humanity. Several of the creators and parts of the rescue team – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Bob Eisenhardt, Rick Stanton, and Captain Mitch Torrel – visited the Angelika Film Center in New York to discuss their film and the events that inspired it.

Watch the Q&A here:

               In 2018, Ekkapol Chantawong, a 25 year old youth soccer coach, and his team of 12 11-16 year old kids got trapped underground in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave for over two weeks, rationing food and drinking the clean water from a cave stalactite. After 10 days, British divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton discovered the team on a rock, and called upon the Thai military, U.S. Air Force, and British government to help rescue the boys. After 17 days of being trapped, the team and their coach were all rescued by the Thai Navy SEALs with the help of thousands of local and international volunteers.

               “The Rescue” tells the story of the rescue, featuring news footage of the event, interviews with survivors and rescuers, and recreations of the scenes within the caves. The crew describes what it was like to get those firsthand stories from survivors of the event in the Q&A, and the fascinating ways in which each story connected to one another. With the amount of volunteers, doctors, divers, military personnel that helped work to save the boys, everybody involved had their own individual experiences and perspectives that all came together like a scrapbook, every person able to provide a new piece of the puzzle that is this incredible story.

               The path to creating this inspiring documentary was certainly a journey, from getting the rights to produce the film from National Geographic to the end, from negotiating for footage rights with Thai Navy SEALs to handling certain topics such as spirituality, to answering the question of how do you tell a story when the whole world already knows how it ends? Through the twists and turns of its creation, “The Rescue” is a deeply moving and inspiring documentary that highlights the strength and willpower at the core of being human.

About the film: The latest film from Oscar®, BAFTA and multiple Emmy® Award-winning directing duo E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (FREE SOLO, MERU) chronicles the enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of 12 boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Thailand. Following its world premiere at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, critics are calling THE RESCUE “heart-stopping”, “rousing” and “truly astonishing.” The film brings alive one of the most perilous rescues in modern times, shining a light on the high-risk world of cave diving, the astounding courage of the rescuers, and the shared humanity of the international community that united to save the boys.