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 Herzog was in Toronto for the premiere of his “Cave of
Forgotten Dreams”, the 90 minute historic documentary of the
35,000-year-old cave paintings of the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc of
southern France which he wrote, directed and narrated. He looked
surprisingly fresh and rested at the end of the 11-day Toronto
International Film Festival.
During a brief interview he told us of his lifelong interest in
Paleolithic cave painting.
 “My intellectual and spiritual awakening was in a way connected
to Paleolithic cave paintings. I lived in the Tyrolean Alps. At
age 12 I spotted a book in the display window of a bookstore
with a picture of a horse from the Lascaux caves on it and an
indescribable excitement took hold of me. I had to have that
book. As my pocket money was only $1 per month, I started to
work as a ball boy on tennis courts, and borrowed money from my
brothers. It took more than half a year until I could buy, and
open, this book and the shudder of awe and wonder has never left
me.”
Herzog, 78, made such extraordinary films as The Enigma of
Kaspar Hauser, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film
Festival; in 1974 and Fitzcarraldo in 1982, in which they had to
haul a ship over a mountain and for which he won Best Director,
also at the Cannes Film Fest. Some of his other films include
Aguirre, the Wrath of God, 1972; Nosferato 1979; Grizzly Man
2005 and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans 2009.
He was the only film director who, ever got permission from the
French Minister of Culture to enter these caves.
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