Lions Once Roared Here
Laurine Estrade, Jean-Baptiste Bonnet
2022 - 66 min - Vidéo Ultra HD - Couleur - France

"Why haven't humans always lived by the water's edge? Because of the fear of beasts, they chose the escarpment. Because they were afraid of the heat, they chose nonchalance. By the dread of melancholy, they chose the grotesque mood and the delirium. All this has not changed much". (Jean Baudrillard)
In the Gouleyrous canyons is the cave where the skull of the Tautavel Man was discovered. More than 450 000 years ago, the cave would have been used as a "table bin": the many animal bones that still litter its floor testify to this. Lions, bears, reindeer, mouflons spawned in the paths of the Catalan hinterland and drank from the river below.
2021. Around the river, here are now the humans of the post-covid era: vacationers, wine growers, archaeologists, workers and parking guards. Different visions clash over the "occupation" of this coveted place: a "water war" breaks out and the beaches of Gouleyrous become an agora.