Finding Altamira | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Hugh Hudson |
Screenplay by | José Luis López-Linares Olivia Hetreed |
Produced by | Lucrecia Botin Álvaro Longoria Andy Paterson |
Starring |
Antonio Banderas Golshifteh Farahani Allegra Allen Clement Sibony Rupert Everett |
Cinematography | José Luis Alcaine |
Edited by | Pia Di Ciaula |
Music by | Mark Knopfler, Evelyn Glennie |
Distributed by | Eagle Films Samuel Goldwyn Films |
Release date | 1 April 2016 (Spain) |
Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | Spain |
Language | English / Spanish |
Finding Altamira (released as Altamira in Spain) is a 2016 Spanish biographical drama film starring Antonio Banderas, and directed by Hugh Hudson. It is Hudson's first fiction film since I Dreamed of Africa in 2000, [1] and his final film before his death in 2023. [2]
The film chronicles the groundbreaking discovery of stone age cave paintings in the Cave of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain, and the subsequent controversy by leading religious and scientific figures of the day.
It was shot in Santillana del Mar, Comillas, Puente San Miguel and Santander at the end of 2014. [3]
The music was composed by guitarist Mark Knopfler and percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
The film has a score of 57% on Metacritic. [4]
Johnathan Holland of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "picturesque, but routine" and wrote that "little of the wow factor is felt on a first viewing of the Antonio Banderas-starring, Hugh Hudson-directed Finding Altamira, where events which played a footnote role in Darwin's great scientific revolution are reduced to a good-looking but unimaginative period drama in which everything proceeds exactly as expected". [5]