Events

Past Event

Cave of Forgotten Dreams Film Screening

October 13, 2022 - October 16, 2022
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
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Online

Event Description

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caves of Southern France and captures some of the oldest known and most well-preserved pictorial creations of early humans, dating back as far as 32,000 years ago. The limestone cave contains a wealth of beautiful images of galloping horses and a ghostly menagerie of bison, cave lions, cave bears, and wooly mammoths. Multiple red palm prints by one of the early artists reappear along the cave walls. The images attest to the admiration and respect these prehistoric humans held for animals and the natural world, and to their worldview described by an archeologist in the film as one with more porous boundaries between the seen and the unseen, and between animal spirits and the human souls who live alongside them. Werner Herzog exercises all his talent here to capture what he calls the “beginnings of the early human soul.” Many of the researchers interviewed seem deeply moved by the cave drawings and the mysterious atmosphere they create, which the film hauntingly conveys to its viewers. 

Event Information

Free and open to the public; registration required to receive a link to view the film online between October 13 and October 16. The film will be streamed in French with English subtitles. For more information, please visit the event webpage or contact Shanny Peer at [email protected].

Hosted by Maison Française at Columbia University. Part of the Being in the World: People and the Planet in French and Francophone Cinema film festival