Lapislazuli - im Auge des Bären

A blazing meteorite crashes into a glacier in the midst of an alpine wilderness, bringing back to life a frozen Neanderthal boy. The boy, whose name is Bataa, meets Sophie, a girl who has run away from a holiday chalet in the mountains. At first their communication is hampered by the divisions of language and time, but, before long, they discover that they have a number of things in common – for Sophie has lost her mother and can’t get along with her new patchwork family, and Bataa feels very lonely and longs for his own family. Both in need of each other, a special friendship soon evolves that is jeopardised when they are discovered by scientists determined to track down and capture Bataa as if he were a wild animal.

Sophie helps him escape. The two children hide in an ancient, secret cave that was once a holy site for Neanderthals. Here, Bataa dies his hair with "lapislazuli" according to a mysterious ritual. When Bataa falls ill Sophie persuades her friend to go down into the valley. But the closer they get to modern civilisation, the more Bataa’s condition deteriorates. Sophie realises that Bataa cannot survive in today’s world, and a race against time begins…

Source: 56. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (catalogue)