For seven months, the owl hunters have been eager for answers. It began in the early morning on October 3, 2024, when the organizers of a game to find the hidden Chouette d'Or ("Golden Owl"), which lasted over 31 years, announced that it had finally been discovered. However, that day, the painter Michel Becker, who took over the treasure hunt in 2021, did not disclose any of the information eagerly awaited: neither the hiding place, the solutions to the 11 riddles nor the winner's identity. On Friday, May 2, the hunters, known as chouetteurs, will finally get answers to their questions – or at least most of them – in a documentary screened in French theaters for two days: La Découverte de la Chouette d'Or ("The Discovery of the Golden Owl").

The film retraces the story of the legendary treasure hunt launched in 1993 by Max Valentin, whose real name was Régis Hauser. He had buried a bronze owl statuette somewhere in France, at a secret location. To discover it, one had to solve 11 riddles, compiled in a book illustrated by Becker. The winner could exchange the bronze token for the real treasure: a sculpture of an owl made of gold, silver and diamonds, valued at 1 million francs (€150,000) at the time. The challenge obsessed thousands over the decades.

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