On Oct. 19, the Kimbell Art Museum will turn its Piano Pavilion into a portal through time. For one afternoon only, Fort Worth audiences can descend into lost tombs beneath Notre-Dame, dive to a Roman shipwreck shimmering with ancient glass, and trek across the Andean highlands of the vanished Inca Empire \u2014 all part of the Arkhaios Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Film Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Presented in partnership with the long-running Arkhaios Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Film Festival, the Kimbell\u2019s three-hour screening series will showcase a trio of recent international documentaries exploring the mysteries, craftsmanship, and resilience of civilizations past. The event is free and open to the public, and two of the films \u2014 \u201cVitrum: Rome\u2019s Glass Revolution\u201d and \u201cThe Rise and Fall of the Incas: The Golden Age\u201d \u2014 will make their U.S. premiere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow in its thirteenth year, the Arkhaois Film Festival occurs every October as part of the month-long celebration of International Archaeology Day. It brings together an impressive group of experts \u2014 including archaeologists, anthropologists, and filmmakers\u2014to select both full-length and short documentary films for virtual screenings,\u201d said Connie Hatchette Barganier, head of education at the Kimbell Art Museum. \u201cThe Kimbell is excited to again participate as an in-person screening venue to show three documentaries from among the longer list of over thirty titles recognized by the Festival.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The afternoon begins at 2:05 p.m. with \u201cThe Lost Tombs of Notre-Dame.\u201d Directed by Florence Tran and produced by Christine Le Goff and Marion Papillon of France\u2019s ZED Studios, the film follows the extraordinary excavation that began after the 2019 fire ravaged the iconic cathedral. Beneath the scorched floor, archaeologists unearthed two lead sarcophagi and fragments of a long-destroyed wooden screen \u2014 clues to centuries of faith and craftsmanship that modern technology is only now beginning to decode.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At 3 p.m., audiences will plunge beneath the Mediterranean in \u201cVitrum: Rome\u2019s Glass Revolution,\u201d an underwater exploration of a shipwreck found 360 meters deep between Corsica and Italy. Directed by Marcello Adamo, the film chronicles the discovery of tons of ancient Roman glass \u2014 not just a sunken cargo, but evidence of an entire civilization\u2019s leap in technology and art. The documentary follows the joint Franco-Italian team aboard the Alfred Merlin as they recover relics from the site, now known as Capo Corso 2, and trace how glassmaking forever transformed daily life in the ancient world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The festival closes with \u201cThe Rise and Fall of the Incas: The Golden Age.\u201d Directors Quentin Domard and Elsa Haharfi take viewers from the fortress of Saqsaywaman to the lost city of Vilcabamba, with stops at Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu. Through interviews, archaeological footage, and 3D CGI reconstructions, the film reimagines the empire\u2019s grandeur and the mysteries that still cling to its mountain citadels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Arkhaios Film Festival runs from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Kimbell\u2019s Piano Pavilion Auditorium. Admission is free, and no registration is required \u2014 though seats are first-come, first-served.\u00a0<\/p>\n