Les Génies de la Grotte Chauvet

Two kinds of art were discovered in the 20th century: modern and prehistoric. After the discovery of prehistoric paintings in Chauvet Cave in 1994, Spanish sculptor Miquel Barceló can argue that there is, in fact, no progress in art. The 36,000-year‑old paintings are captivating in all aspects and push our ideas about the artistic ambitions of humans a great deal further. Although the first film which took a peek into the cave was Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog, the film by Christian Tran presents a number of new findings. A replica of the cave, which is the largest cave of its kind in the world, was opened to the public in 2015. The film follows the work of experts and the artistic activity of designers as they prepare the replica, working at achieving maximum fidelity to the original paintings. Thanks to modern technology, they are able to discover remarkable details and present interesting hypotheses concerning the authors and meanings of the works of art. The history of human imagination and creativity still seems to have new surprises to offer. (Academia Film Olomouc)