Rewilding Europe

The Return of the Aurochs

The Story

30,000 years ago Stone Age hunters painted mythical creatures on cave walls.
An amazing story begins with these enigmatic images. It reaches into today’s Europe and tells of an amazing undertaking: to make amends for an old injustice.

The film is about the adventurous attempt to bring back the aurochs, which existed in Europe for thousands of years and were exterminated 400 years ago.

Using state-of-the-art technology, the previously unknown life of a mythical animal is revealed and for the first time we see how aurochs live in the wild, how they raise their young, protect themselves from enemies, determine the hierarchy within the herd and how they still look after their contribute to the preservation of their habitat.

2019-2022

4K & 5.1

16:9

2x 52min; 2x45min

German & English

Production Team

Written and Directed by Michael Schlamberger ● Camera Michael Schlamberger ● Additional Camera Jiří Petr, Pedro Felipe Acosta ● Camera Assistant Matthias Aberer ● Editing Omer Sacic ● Music Thomas Rabitsch ● Text by Michael Schlamberger ● Narrated by Edita Malovčić ● Sound Martin Rohrmoser, Christoph Burgstaller, Pavel Jan, Matthias Aberer, Rita Schlamberger ● Sound Editing and Mixing Martin Rohrmoser ● Colorist Omer Sacic ● Scientific Advisor Miloslav Jirku, Vojtěch Koštíř ● Production Assistent Stefanie Nehammer ● Production Manager Rita Schlamberger ● Executive Producer Rita Schlamberger ● Commissioning Editor ARTE G.E.I.E. Christian Cools, Aurélie Marx, Katja Wagner ● Production Manager ARTE G.E.I.E. Bérengère Quercy ● Series Editor ARTE G.E.I.E. Alexander von Harling ● Commissioning Editor ORF Bibiane Zeller-Presenhuber ● Series Editor ORF Gernot Lercher ● Head of Factual ORF Tom Matzek