Director

KURT MÜNDL was born in 1959. After graduating in biology and environmental studies, he worked for 15 years as a scientific journalist and published various books, some of which he wrote together with Konrad Lorenz, the famous ethologist. Mündl is the author of many scientific reportages and has also produced four documentaries for ZDF, which have received various awards at International Film Festivals: Ein ganz alltägliches Monster, Die vielen Facetten der Stubenfliege (1994), Die Schattenjäger, Aus dem Leben der giftigsten Skorpione der Welt (1996), Die Boten der Götter. Schmetterlinge, ein Leben wie Tag und Nacht (1997), Die Neuentdeckten - Vogelspinnen un ihre giftigen Verwandten (1998).

Nine years after the sensational discovery of the Similaun man, who lay buried in ice for over 5,000 years, the film reconstructs the life of Neolithic man and the daily struggle for survival by Ötzi and his small community.

Partly shot in the area where the mummy was found and in the Carinthian forests, the film suggests - though this hypothesis is not unanimously shared - that the hunter was at an altitude of three thousand metres after being sent away from the village as a result of a violent argument during which some of his ribs were broken.

Photos
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