USA Premiere

FILM SYNOPSIS: The Gallo-Roman reaper, or vallus, is an amazing agricultural instrument that has been reconstructed and tested for over 20 years at the archaeological site of Malagne, the Archeoparc of Rochefort (Belgium).

Requiring the use of a draught animal - which is a donkey in our project - the maneuver needs a technical know-how acquired during many years of experimentation on the field. The vallus is a source of fascination for the public, but this mower has not finished revealing all its secrets.

Indeed, upon the archaeological discovery of metal teeth at Warcq in the French Ardennes, research was given a new goal: those iron and bent artifacts, could they be antique reaper teeth, as could be presumed when interpreting the text of the Latin author Palladius ?

As part of the Interreg "Vallus" micro-project, the Malagne team set itself a new challenge: provide the reaper with a metal comb and test this hypothesis. It is this unique adventure that the film "Vallus, the Teeth of the Earth" invites us to discover.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: A Belgian filmmaker for the past 40 years, Philippe Axell's documentaries have been broadcast around the world and have received numerous international awards both in Europe and in the United States.

Amongst his awarded films are : The Mystery of the Lesse River (1991), The Jewels of the Dark (1993), Underground Treasures (1998), Journey into the Earth (2000), The Island of the Phoenix (2002), Sagalassos, the Forgotten City (2003), The Last Romans (2007), Sahara, Climate, and Societies of the Past, (2008).