Acquisition of the documentaries Chauvet: Humanity's First Great Masterpiece and AI: The Great Pompeii Puzzle

France tv distribution is happy to announce the acquisition of the documentaries Chauvet: Humanity's First Great Masterpiece (original title: Chauvet, voyage aux origines) produced by france.tv studio and AI: The Great Pompeii Puzzle (original title: Intelligence Artificielle : Le grand puzzle de Pompéi) produced by Elephant.

These factuals, which are distributed internationally by France tv distribution, was launched at MIPTV 2024.

Chauvet: Humanity's First Great Masterpiece

Synopsis

In December of 1994, an archeological marvel that had remained hidden deep inside a sprawling limestone mountain range in France’s Gorges de l’Ardèche was revealed to the modern world for the very first time: the Chauvet cave.

Scientists immediately realized the exceptional nature of this cave: sealed by a landslide more than 20,000 years ago, it is in an extraordinary state of preservation. How did this cave art jewel, with several hundred paintings adorning its walls, stand the test of time, allowing us to behold it after all these millennia? How and by whom was it created? And how can we keep it intact for future generations?

Chauvet, Humanity’s First Great Masterpiece takes us on an archaeological, geological and artistic adventure alongside the scientists who have been working for 30 years to understand and conserve this incredibly exceptional cave.

Original Title: Chauvet, voyage aux origines

Genre: Science & Technology

Format: 90/52’ 

Written and directed by Guy Padovani and Marc Azema

Production: france.tv studio

French Broadcaster: France 5

Photos credits: ©france.tv studio 

AI: The Great Pompeii Puzzle

Synopsis

In Pompeii, tens of thousands of fragments lie in boxes like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle. How do you match up 15,000 scattered pieces by hand? The task is colossal. Artificial intelligence and robotics are ready to take up the challenge.

This documentary follows the adventure of this groundbreaking technological endeavor, which could revolutionize archaeology. A human adventure, led by passionate scientists from all over the world, at the crossroads of artificial intelligence, robotics and archaeology.

The stakes are high: on every archaeological site in the world, in museum storerooms, tens of thousands of similar puzzles are waiting to be assembled. If this Pompeii project succeeds, it will revolutionize art and archaeology.

Original Title: Intelligence Artificielle : Le grand puzzle de Pompéi

Genre: Science & Technology

Format: 90/52’ 

Written and directed by Paolo Santoni and Martin Blanchard

Production: Elephant / François Ducroux & Gaël Leiblang

French Broadcaster: France 5

Photos credits: ©Elephant

Julia Schulte (SVP International Sales at France tv distribution):

"We are thrilled to lounge sales of two outstanding science docs: CHAUVET which offers exclusive access to the first great masterpiece of humanity to be found in the Chauvet cave and which will bring us to never-told discoveries about early man and his art. And our travel in time to POMPEII which will show us how modern AI technology is bringing a new approach to ancient sites and revolutionizing archaeology."

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About France tv distribution

France tv distribution works with producers and licensors to maximise revenues from their programmes accross all media platforms encompassing video, VOD and music publishing, merchandising, magazine and book publishing, plus French and international distribution and fund-raising.

Since January 2017, France tv distribution has gone hand in hand with distribution films abroad. As a major player on the distribution of rights in France and in foreign markets, this new activity of trading feature films is added to its savoir-faire.