CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

by Werner Herzog
90’, USA, 2011

For over 20,000 years, Chauvet Cave has been completely sealed off by a fallen rock face. Its crystal-encrusted interior, as large as a soccer field, is strewn with the petrified remains, of giant ice age mammals. In 1994, scientists discovered the caverns, and found hundreds of pristine paintings within, spectacular artwork dating back over 30,000 years (almost twice as old as any previous finds) to a time when Neanderthals still roamed the earth and cave bears, mammoths, and ice age lions were the dominant populations of Europe. Since then, only a few people had been allowed access to Chauvet Cave, and the true scope of its contents had largely gone ungrasped until Werner Herzog managed to gain access. Filming in 3D, Herzog captures the wonder and beauty of one of the most awe-inspiring sites on earth, all the while musing in his inimitable fashion about its original inhabitants, the birth of art, and the curious people surrounding the caves today.
 

Werner Herzog Born in Munich in 1942, Herzog made his first short film in 1962. He is one of the protagonists of the so-called “New German Cinema”. He collaborated for many years with Klaus Kinski, with whom he made some of his most acclaimed works, including Fitzcarraldo. Author and director of more than fifty films and documentaries, he is widely recognized as one of the most important living directors. In 2010 he presented his first 3D documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. He currently lives and works in the US.