Top Image: Still, The Voyage of Time (2016), dir. Terrence Malick

Ahead of it’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, the first trailer for Terrence Malick’s ten-years-in-the-making documentary The Voyage of Time  has arrived — and it looks suitably epic.

With awe-inspiring, sublime images of the Earth’s fourteen billion year history spanning across the video, this film looks certain to be Malick’s greatest piece of work yet. The synopsis reads that “the unfolding of the universe takes place before your eyes, in this experience for the senses, mind and soul.” From the past, to present, to the future, Malick has compiled years of filmmaking and research to construct something quite vast.

This is a first for Malick; the filmmaker is known for his arthouse films that often polarise critics, but has yet to try his turn in documentary-features until now. Whilst this surely looks as grand and poignant as past works (such as The Tree of Life and Knight of Cups), it’s certain to tell a very different story.

The film will be released at the IMAX under ‘Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience’ on 7th October, where it will be cut in to 40 minutes and narrated by the dulcet tones of Mr Brad Pitt – his narration is said to be “awestruck and explanatory…[evoking] a kaleidoscope of impressions and emotions.” Malick is then subsequently releasing the full 90-minute edition for general release with Cate Blanchett as the narrator, whose voice will differ to Pitt’s, appearing “more searching and poignant”, acting as an “urgent inquiry from a child of earth to the mother of all”.

Malick and his crew claim they’ve taken inspiration from the artist Albert Bierstadt, as Malick wanted “the feeling that every shot in the film was drawn by a different artist’s hand”. The film has consulted with top-notch scientists from all over the globe, including NASA officials, Nobel physicists, and esteemed researches at the best universities around. Atop of this articulate attention to detail, it’s also been revealed that Malick has constructed an epic musical score to accompany the striking images, including the likes of Bach’s Mass in B Minor.

Tickets for Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience have not gone on sale yet, but it’d be wise to watch this space. The film premieres at the Venice International Film Festival on 31th August, and makes it’s North American debut at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival starting 8th September.