Despite seeing his film project HERCULES rejected by DEFA Studios in 198384 Dammbeck remained fascinated by the Hercules story He started experimenting with different media combinations using overpainting photography film clips collage painting and movement These experiments resulted in groundbreaking multimedia collaborations as well as the film THE CAVE OF HERCULES in which Dammbeck explores a series of questions inspired by this classical figure Who was the legendary hero Hercules Is there a new Hercules today How are heroes created in a totalitarian society What are the virtues of heroes This multilayered experimental film combines projections of collected film clips quotations from The Willful Child by the Brothers Grimm and Hercules 2 or the Hydra by Heiner Müller as well as dance scenes with Eva Schmale that were performed at Kampnagel in Hamburg specifically for the film
