‘Footprints, Cave Manifestations of the Canary Islands‘ is the first documentary on this subject, with unpublished images of archaeological sites with writing or messages in stone from the ancient aboriginal population and also of rock engravings located in the Sahara. The screening of the film will be today at the Guiniguada Theater at 8:00 p.m. and tomorrow in Tenerife, at La Granja, at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Footprints is the first documentary on the rock art manifestations of the Canary Islands, which premieres today at the Guiniguada Theater and tomorrow at La Granja de Tenerife. It contains unpublished images of archaeological sites that they preserve writing or messages in stone of the ancient aboriginal population of the different islands of the Archipelago, from the coast to high altitudes, and also of rock engravings located in the Sahara. In addition, the documentary contains the only recordings of the first cave paintings located on La Palma, in the Cueva Tiznada, among other finds of interest such as the Recent Libyco-Berber inscriptions that appeared in Tenerife.
According to the filmmaker who created the documentary, Tarek Ode, no film had ever been made of the cave manifestations. “My job has been to direct giving visual form and scientific content with the great archaeologists who accompany us throughout the documentary, including Nona Perera, with whom we have already done a lot of work.” From the beginning, the team considered that it had to be a didactic report in the sense that “we would have to know what a cave manifestation is, types of execution, how they are carried out, the Libyco-Berber scripts, the Canary Islands translated in some cases” . The entire documentary is guided on the ground by all these great archaeologists “who direct us and make us shape it.” «We are lucky to be able, at the time of filming, to have included discoveries such as the Cueva Tiznada de La Palma, since we were the only team that entered on-site to record». The existence of a map of La Palma engraved by the ancient Benahoarites is also recorded.
According to the filmmaker Ode, “we are not going to clearly see a site and its spatial location to protect the environment”
Ode pointed out, on the other hand, that “we are not going to see a site and its spatial location coherently, basically because we have decided to commit to protecting the environment and disguising the place where it is located a little, precisely to avoid vandalism or aggression or whatever”. And he added that it is an informative film “for the whole family, whether they have knowledge of archeology or not, since everything is very well developed and easy to understand.” The cave manifestations must be “understood from the heart”, and that is the intention of the documentary, “to bring what is not in the museums to people, that is to say that Footprints it is like an audiovisual museum». In short, the filmmaker believes that it is a contribution of great cultural, educational and scientific value.
In this sense, Nona Perera, general director of Cultural Heritage, highlighted that 22 people offer testimony, make known what they know about this cave manifestation and give their opinion. «It is a varied group of professionals in which not all are dedicated to engravings, but to spatial and territorial considerations, which are the key because an engraving is also important because of the place where it is located. It is not the same as being found inside a cave, in the middle of a cemetery, as is the case in Arteara, or being written on the shores of the sea, as is often the case in El Hierro». The documentary was recorded with all kinds of technical material, but, above all, “the experience that we could emphasize is that of the territory, of traveling, of being with them in the field, of being able to see and be recorded the great solstices and equinoxes that are produced”. He added that “there are a lot of aerial images that have never been seen. Many deposits are five or ten centimeters from the line, in size. That must be integrated into the landscape and look for the best artificial light and illuminate at night.
The director of the documentary stressed that these findings must be “understood from the heart”
There is a journey of experts through the territory for many years. “Obviously,” Perera said, “part of our work is archeology, but it is important to point out that other aspect as well. We have the best technical means, from the best drones, 4K cameras and the best lenses, but in the end what is fundamental is scientific rigor, knowing what we have to record and then integrating it into the territory, into the documentary, giving it an order and a coherence”. With the filming, the aim is “to see heritage on an aesthetic level, to understand it from the heart, to bring what is not in the museums to the person at home, to whom, even due to physical problems or any other, cannot reach the Deposit. I think that is an enriching part and a small museum that we can also have.
