''What They Found'' is a 2025

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

film directed by

Sam Mendes Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was Knight Bachelor, knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours ...

in his documentary directorial debut. It features footage and first-hand accounts of the 1945 liberation of

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

. It was aired on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

on 7 April 2025.

Premise

In April 1945, Sergeants Mike Lewis and Bill Lawrie of the

Army Film and Photographic Unit The Army Film and Photographic Unit was a subdivision of the British armed forces set up on 24 October 1941, to record military events in which the British and Commonwealth armies were engaged. During the war, almost 23 percent of all AFPU soldie ...

accompanied the 11th Armoured Division during the liberation of

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

. The film features their footage and personal record of the events.

Production

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, director

was approached by producer Simon Chinn to direct a documentary about the

. In addition to the footage shot by Sergeants Mike Lewis and Bill Lawrie at

, the film utilizes interviews conducted by Kay Gladstone, former director of the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

, with the men of the unit in the 1980s. The film was officially announced on 12 February 2025, with Mendes directing for

Release

A trailer was released on 1 April 2025. The film was aired on BBC Two on 7 April 2025.

Reception

Jack Seale of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave the film four out of five stars, calling the footage "profoundly disturbing" and noting that it "could alter your whole world view".

References

External links

* {{Sam Mendes 2020s British films 2020s English-language films 2025 films 2025 short documentary films 2025 television films BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century Bergen-Belsen concentration camp British documentary television films British short documentary films Documentary films about the Holocaust Documentary films about war photographers English-language short documentary films Films directed by Sam Mendes