Once Upon a Time in Mesopotamia (French: Il était une fois la Mésopotamie; German: Es war einmal in Mesopotamien) is a 1998 documentary film adapted from the nonfiction book of the same name by French Assyriologist Jean Bottéro and archaeologist . Directed by Jean-Claude Lubtchansky, and co-produced by Trans Europe Film, La Sept-Arte, Éditions Gallimard, Louvre Museum and La Cinquième, with voice-over narration by French actors François Marthouret, and the director, the documentary is structured like an adventure film, takes viewers into the world of the first discoverers, epigraphists and Assyriologists who revealed Mesopotamian archaeology to the modern world.