The Chauvet Cave in southern France contains the oldest-known archeological evidence for cave painting in the world. Discovered in 1994, the paintings of a wide variety of animals on cave walls are thought to date back to as far as 32,000 years ago, significantly older than both Lascaux (17,300 years old) and Altamira (18,500 years old). In 2008, after reading a detailed account on the Chauvet Cave in the New Yorker, German director Werner Herzog approached the French government about the prospect of filming a documentary on the historic landmark. The French assented, granting Herzog and three of his helpers access to the caves for four hour intervals over six different visits. The crew wore special suits in order to reduce the damaging effect of humans on the site, as had previously occurred in Lascaux and Altamira.
The resulting film "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" was released at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2010. Though Herzog isn't a fan of 3D films, he felt that the Chauvet Cave merited its use, as it would help "capture the intentions of the painters". According to the trailer, the documentary will be arriving in "Spring 2011," so it won't be too long before we get to see for ourselves this most mysterious and poetic art of our Paleolithic predecessors.
