USA Premiere

SYNOPSIS

East-Central China: Archaeologists are working hard. The ancient imperial city of Fengyang was rediscovered by chance over 50 years ago and has never been excavated.

Initial excavations reveal that it was an enormous city, even more impressive than Beijing's famous Imperial City. What did it look like? When and how was it built, and why was it destroyed under mysterious circumstances?

Researchers are delving into these mysteries to unravel the secrets of this forgotten city and its lost imperial past.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

After several years devoted to editing, Stéphane Bégoin's taste for other people, other places and solid, well-crafted stories led him to direct his own films. He is as interested in human stories and spirituality as he is in the major issues shaping science. His films include Cayeux, pleine et basse mer (a documentary on the Bay of the Somme and its inhabitants), Roger B., alchimiste (a documentary on the personal journey of a man in search of the philosopher's stone), Et Sapiens inventa l'Homme (a documentary on early modern man) and a series on fatherhood.

In the course of his filming, he travels and encounters primitive peoples such as the Bushmen in Namibia, the Inuits in Canada's far north, and the Shipibos in Amazonia (Charlie's Journey). In Catholiques malgré tout, he examines the future of the Catholic Church alongside men and women of faith. In L'Homme au nom guillotiné, he accompanies a man on his quest for identity. Science also offered him the opportunity to work on certain enigmas (Le Mystère Stradivarius, La Grande Épidémie).