TOUMAI - The New Ancestor
Original title: TOUMAI - Le nouvel ancetre
Duration: 85’
Producer: Stephane Milliere
Director: Pierre Stine
Scientific field: Human Sciences
Year: 2006
Country: France
July 19, 2001, in the Djourab desert of North Chad. Culminating more than twenty years of work, Michel Brunet, director of the French-Chadian Paleoanthropological Mission (MPFT) announces the discovery of our oldest human ancestor recorded to date. The creature, better known as Toumai, is seven million years old and has just « crash-landed » in the world of the living. The entire history of humankind is thrown into question.
This riveting high definition production is a sophisticated forensic investigation, designed to find out exactly who this creature was and how he lived.
To bring Toumai to life, Brunet will travel the globe, conducting a scientific investigation that will take him from the desert of Chad to the most prestigious paleoanthropological laboratories. We will witness Brunet's theories brought to life thanks to state-of-the-art CGI reconstructions of Toumai and his world, with amphibious fauna such as tortoises and crocodiles to sabre tooths and proboscidians.
