The Santander International Film Week will host the world premiere of 'The Guardian of the Cave'

For the first time in almost thirty years, cameras were able to film in the caves of Altamira to film this documentary directed by José Luis López Linares, a true master of the genre.

Sharing with the world an exceptional visit to the Altamira cave with the man who knew it best, is the reason for the documentary The cave guardian, whose world premiere will take place at the Santander International Film Week. Almost 30 years after the last chamber entered, director José Luis López Linares tours the cave with an extraordinary guide: José Antonio Lasheras, director of the Altamira Museum for 25 years and the person who best knew its secrets.

Lasheras reveals the mysteries of the place, talks about its discovery, guides us through its tunnels and rooms and explains and shows us each of the paintings, works of art from the Paleolithic that decorate its walls and ceilings. In 2016, while filming was being completed, José Antonio died in an accident, which turns this film into a tribute film, not only to the cave but also to the “guardian.”

The documentary The cave guardian, with script and direction by José Luis López Linares and production by Lucrecia Botín and Álvaro Longoria, from Morena
Films, abrirá la Semana Internacional de Cine de Santander el próximo 16 de junio en su estreno mundial. Será a las 20:30 horas en el Palacio de Festivales, con acceso gratuito hasta completar aforo. Y tras la proyección, el director, junto a Longoria, Pilar Fatás (directora de Altamira) y otros invitados al estreno, hablarán ante el público asistente sobre la figura de Lasheras y la realización de este largometraje.

“Todavía recuerdo como si fuera ayer la llamada de José Antonio Lasheras: ‘José Luis, si te vienes el próximo miércoles entras en la cueva'”, recuerda
López Linares, one of the most prominent names in the documentary genre in our country. “We had been waiting for many months for authorization to enter
in the Altamira cave.”

Naturally, the filming took place under very special conditions, since cameras had not been allowed into the cave since the 1980s, which
In addition, it remained completely closed to the public from 2002 to 2014, the year in which very limited visits began to be allowed. The team
He worked with gowns, gloves and masks, entering the cave accompanied by two guides who supervised the limited time they could be inside each
day: 360 minutes. In addition, the filming used special equipment of high-resolution cameras controlled by remote control and cold, high-quality lights.
chromatic reproduction so as not to produce alterations in the natural conditions of the cave.

Lasheras decided that the first visit would be without cameras. This is how López Linares remembers it: “The first surprise was its size, because I only knew about
espacio conocido como ‘techo de los polícromos’. Pero la cueva es en realidad mucho mayor, con espacios de grandes dimensiones, y llena de pequeños y maravillosos hallazgos que José Antonio conocía como nadie, por haberlos vivido de cerca desde hacía veinticinco años. Cuando volvimos con las cámaras, José Antonio repitió la visita durante dos días para que pudiéramos grabar algunos fragmentos de la película documental Altamira, el origen del arte. However, upon seeing the material, Lucrecia Botín, Álvaro Longoria and I thought that the experience of a private visit to the Altamira cave, led by the man who has known it best, had value in itself and, above all, deserved to be shared. That is the reason for The Guardian of the Cave, which we hope many people can enjoy with it.”

José Luis López Linares worked for more than 20 years as director of photography for some of the best Spanish filmmakers (Saura, Trueba, Chávarri, Martínez Lázaro, Martín Patino and Erice, among many others) before taking charge of his own production company, López-Li Films, to direct documentaries. Assault the Heavens, About Buñuel, Foreigners of Theirselves, A Moment in the Life of Others or The Chicken, the Fish and the King Crab, have been just some of his most notable works. With them, López Linares revealed himself as a brilliant director and managed to attract the Spanish public to a genre that, until his arrival, had had more than discreet success among viewers.

Morena Films se fundó en 1999 con el objetivo de producir contenidos innovadores, de calidad, y con una clara ambición comercial en los mercados internacionales. Desde entonces, ha producido más de 40 obras entre largometrajes de ficción, documentales, animación y series de TV, con directores como Oliver Stone, Icíar Bollaín, Steven Soderbergh, Carlos Saura, Julio Medem, Pablo Trapero, Javier Fesser o Daniel Calparsoro, entre otros. Entre sus películas más premiadas destacan Also the Rain (Icíar Bollaín), Cell 211 (Daniel Monzón); Hijos de las nubes (Álvaro Longoria), Che, El
Argentino y Che, Guerrilla (Steven Soderbergh), The olive tree (Icíar Bollaín), o la más reciente Champions (Javier Fesser).