POST-FILM DISCUSSION with Michael Balter, archeology/human evolution writer for Science, one of the world’s leading science magazines.
Legendary director Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World) takes us deep inside the Chauvet cave of southern France to the world’s oldest known cave paintings: hundreds of 32,000-year-old, astonishingly pristine and realistic drawings of horses, cattle and lions. Herzog’s narration and interviews with the cave’s researchers tell us about the creators of this breathtaking Paleolithic art and reflect on humans’ primal desire to represent the world around us and to ponder our place within it.
France/Canada/USA/UK/Germany, 2010, 90 minutes, documentary, English, German and French, with English subtitles, unrated
“To call this movie fascinating is akin to calling the Grand Canyon large.” —Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
“Transcendent, provocative and deeply humbling, Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a wonderful film, in the most literal sense of that word. It inspires not just delight and awe, but profound gratitude.” —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
“It’s a privilege and a pleasure to be present in a sacred space where the human and the mystical effortlessly intertwine, and we are in Werner Herzog’s debt for that great gift.” —Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“Spellbinding!” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
