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Video Bar

 

 

May 18-19, 2015, U. of O. Baker Downtown Center, Eugene, Oregon USA

TAC Conference on Cultural Heritage Film

 

 

 

This year, the Video Bar will be at the Baker Downtown Center, 975 High Street, in the Belize Room. Here you can watch any of the entered films on individual viewing stations for no charge. All the entered films are listed below. Films noted with an asterisk (*) are also to be shown on the big screen for the competition.

 

 

200 Years Later: The Burning of Fort Johnson and the War of 1812

Distributor: Illinois State Archaeological Survey USA

Producer: Illinois State Archaeological Survey 26 minutes

The Illinois State Archaeological Survey conducted multi-year searches and excavations to find a lost fort from the war of 1812. This film describes how Fort Johnson came into being, its purpose during the war and the people and archaeologists who played a role in finding it.

 

 

*Abu Haraz

Distributor: Krakow Film Foundation Poland

Producer: Maciej J. Drygas, Drygas Productions 44 minutes

Abu Haraz is a small village in the middle of the desert in North Sudan. The construction of a huge dam on the Nile has interfered with the age-old, natural rhythm of the lives of its residents. The film makers have spent several years with them, observing their vain attempts to turn back fate and stop the construction of the dam in order to continue their way of life. Struggle, loss, pain, sacrifice, perseverance, and dedication to their natural lifestyle are all evident in this film.

 

 

Adulis: Chronicle of the Archaeological Mission

Distributor: Research Center of Oriental Desert Italy

Producer: Research Center of Oriental Desert 43 minutes

This film chronicles an archaeological fieldwork project in the ancient port town of Adulis, Eritrea – an important gateway between the Mediterranean and the Far East. The film shows the daily life of an archaeological field worker as he leads the audience through the various daily activities, alternating scenes of archaeological excavation and illustrations of some discoveries.

 

 

*Agave Is Life

Distributor: None USA

Producer: Meredith Dreiss 60 minutes

Texas-based archaeologists Meredith Dreiss and David Brown take the viewer on a 10,000 year visual exploration of the symbiotic relationship between agave and the humans who have depended upon it. Agave Is Life, narrated by Edward James Olmos, delves into the ceremonial and sacred importance of this multi-purpose plant, native to the Americas. From the ancient past to the present we learn how agave became embedded in myth, religion and cultural identity. The film ends with a look to the future as today’s scientists worry about the loss of species and related human folkways—emblematic of planet-wide concerns about sustainability and our environment.

 

 

Alice and Kevin

Distributor: Winnipeg Film Group Canada

Producer: Christopher Read 13 minutes

Alice became an outspoken advocate for First Nations people in Canada when she filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. This film is about her fight for her and her son – a fight that may have lasting implications for all disabled people on reservations throughout Canada and future generations of First Nations people.

 

 

Aosta and the Mountains of San Bernardo

Distributor: None Italy

Producer: Patrizio Vichi 27 minutes

The sequel to Aosta-Carema: The Roman Road Mile by Mile, this video highlights the road that stretches from Aosta to France. On route, the road passes through Mount Grand St. Bernard, Switzerland, and the Rhine region and Mount Petit St. Bernard before finally reaching France.

 

 

Aosta-Carema: The Roman Road Mile by Mile

Distributor: None Italy

Producer: Patrizio Vichi 17 minutes

This video re-creates the Strada Consulare delle Gallie (Consular Street of Gaul) from the Italian side, between Carema (Piedmont) and Aosta (Aosta Valley). The forty-mile-long Roman road has been lost in memory; however, through this study, sites have been discovered about 50-100 meters from where the mile stones were. Around those stones many of the churches of the most important villages in Aosta Valley were built.

 

 

Bayimba

Distributor: Film Garage Studios Uganda

Producer: Ian Mark Kimanje 14 minutes

For the past seven years, Kampala has played host to the Bayimba International Cultural Festival, a vibrant festival that attracts many people from around the world. Spending time at the festival makes one want to book dancing lessons. I decided to film this creative world on the African continent so others could share in the smiles and joy as people enjoy life.

 

 

*Breaking New Ground: Native American in Archaeology

Distributor: Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., and Cinnabar Video USA

Producer: Kelly McGuire, William Hildebrandt and D. Craig Young 33 minutes

Northern Nevada is a landscape of extremes, from parched playas baking in the summer sun to snow-mantled peaks wrapped in winter’s deep freeze. Through this landscape a new gas pipeline would have to be built, but before construction could begin, archaeological studies would have to be completed along the entire route. Far Western Anthropological Research Group hired members of the region’s Paiute and Shoshone tribal communities and trained them as archaeologists to assist in the mapping, recording and excavation of archaeology sites located on their ancestral lands. For many, working as archaeologists was a life-changing event. Their understanding of their history grew, their attitudes towards archaeology changed and they experienced moments of profound spirituality. This is their story.

 

 

The Brooklyn, Illinois, Project: Founded by Chance, Sustained by Courage

Distributor: Illinois State Archaeological Survey USA

Producer: Illinois State Archaeological Survey 33 minutes

The Illinois State Archaeological Survey received funding that enabled them to make a short documentary about their outreach projects in Brooklyn, Illinois. This film tells the story of the first all-Black town in the United States and explores the town’s struggle to survive against the backdrop of socioeconomic issues. The documentary also highlights the partnership between the Illinois State Archaeological Survey and the Brooklyn Historical Society and the impact it has had on the town.

 

 

Camuni

Distributor: Comunità Montana Di Valley Camonica Italy

Producer: Comunità Montana Di Valley Camonica 5 minutes

Camuni (Camunians) is a cartoon about the phases of courtship and the coming together of youth whose love is recognized with the offering of a Camunian rose, which is an expression of a prehistoric figure. Set in a rock art park, the archaeological heritage is brought to life through animation and different contemporary languages. Produced by Comunità Montana di ValleCamonica and directed by Bruno Bzzetto.

 

 

*The Cartwright of Malacca

Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) Malaysia

Producer: Jacqueline Ho 30 minutes

The big wood and iron wheels are strong; too strong for modern roads and too slow for a fast moving world. This is the bullock cart of Malacca. Made of 99 parts, the carts were a common sight in Malacca once upon a time, but it’s a dying trait. However, one man is adamant about preserving the technology of cart making. He’s 71-year old Haji Abdul Kassim, the last known bullock cart maker in Malacca. He's descended from several generations of bullock cart makers and drivers. Haji Abdul claims that his ancestors have been making bullock carts since the time of the Sultanate of Malacca, 600 years ago.

 

 

City of Sunken Gods

Distributor: Media Pronocja Zdzislaw Covac Poland

Producer: Media Pronocja Zdzislaw Covac 44 minutes

The film tells the mysterious story of Wolin, a town on the Baltic coast associated with medieval legends and the results of archaeological research conducted in the locality. One such legend is about Wineta, a wealthy city that was flooded by the sea. Another legend tells of a Viking stronghold called Jomsborg. The film uses virtual reconstruction to bring the early medieval Wolin to life and includes re-enactments of events that happened over a thousand years ago.

 

 

A Common Experience

Distributor: Winnipeg Film Group Canada

Producer: Duane Murray 11 minutes

A Common Experience is a poetic exploration of the multi-generational effects of Canada's Indian Residential School system on the First Nation peoples of Canada. These schools had a big impact on the native peoples, causing rifts between generations. It is based on the life experiences of Aboriginal playwright Yvette Nolan.

 

 

*Dashi: Essence of Japan

Distributor: Shohei Shobata, NKH (Japan Broadcasting Company) Japan

Producer: Nozomu Makino, Jun Ito, Yoshimi Oganeku, and Luc Martin Gousset 51 minutes

Dashi is the bedrock of Japanese cuisine and deceptively simple. Master chefs have jealously guarded their recipes for centuries and blended their aromas at night. The development of dashi came about as a result of the arrival of Buddhism in Japan about one thousand five hundred years ago. The adoption of Buddhism by the Imperial Court inspired the Japanese people to try to distill nature’s essence from the few plentiful ingredients they had at hand, such as konbu seaweed that grows in the northern seas, the shoals of bonito that arrive once a year on their annual migration north and the shiitake mushrooms that are nurtured in Japan’s dense forests. Dashi is a distillation of the natural resources of Japan.

 

 

Decoding Neanderthals

Distributor: Nova/PBS USA

Producer: Johanna Woolford Gibbon and Ben Harding 53 minutes

Go back 60,000 years to when the first modern humans left their African homeland and entered Europe. When they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundreds of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? In 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo announced that they reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genome and their analysis showed a small but consistent signature of Neanderthal genes in everyone outside Africa today. Decoding Neanderthals explores the implications of this exciting discovery.

 

 

Discovering the Secrets of Ancient Iron

Distributor: Elhuyar and Euskal Telebista Spain

Producer: Benar Kortabarria 29 minutes

By the 1st century A.D., Pliny the Elder called the western margin of the Bay of Biscay the Iron Mountains. Between the Iron Age and the 14th century A.D., iron was obtained from mountain ironworks or haizeolas; this knowledge is lost to us. The archaeological team from the Mining Museum of the Basque Country goes back in time, using experimental archaeology, to study iron-making furnaces, building a haizeola to try to produce iron and get as close as possible to the secret of the early iron makers.

 

 

Enamel Dome

Distributor: Mohammad Ehsani Iran

Producer: Mohammad Ehsani 41 minutes

It is heartbreaking to see the damage done to the glorious historical sites in Iran; much of it has been desecrated by graffiti, as this film shows. Who cares about Iran’s heritage and should we do something to stop the destruction? It is everybody’s responsibility to preserve the country’s ancient heritage. Not helping to preserve these sites only contributes to their demise.

 

 

*Farandole

Distributor: Winnipeg Film Group Canada

Producer: Alliance Francaise Manitoba and Les Productions Diselle 12 minutes

This short documentary captures the essence of a multi-disciplinary creative project that brings together Franco-Manitoban visual artist Colette Balcaen and embroiderer and stylist from Brittany, Pascal Jaouen, who collaborated with renowned Manitoban artisans and Métis embroiderers, Jennine Krauchi and Jenny Meyer, as well as Manitoban weaver Carole James. Colette Balcaen transmits her artistic expression through textiles, which are a representation of her passion for her language and culture. Her art underlines the importance of the individual person and his or her role in society. Using her knowledge of textiles and her repeated daily domestic tasks, she tells stories by using the parallel between written text and woven threads to form new information.

 

 

Finding Atlantis

Distributor: National Geographic Television International Canada

Producer: Simcha Jacobovici and Kathryn Liptrott 51 minutes

Finding Atlantis follows a team of Spanish, American and Canadian scientists as they employ NASA space photography, ground penetrating radar, underwater archaeology, and historical sleuthing to find a lost civilization. What they find is incredible – archaeological proof of Atlantis’ existence, including a stele that may have stood at the entrance of the legendary civilization.

 

 

Finding Sergeant Partridge

Distributor: Winnipeg Film Group Canada

Producer: Gabriel Constant 14 minutes

Two Peter Partridges, two worlds apart, two families searching. This film tells the story of a woman in England who embarks on a search for her grandfather’s roots, which leads her to solving her family’s mystery and uniting her with a family she didn’t know she had in The Pas, Manitoba.

 

 

Flooding Hope: The Lake St. Martin First Nation Story

Distributor: Winnipeg Film Group Distribution Canada

Producer: Shirley Thompson 21 minutes

This is a tale of intrigue and sabotage. How was it that the Lake St. Martin First Nation people were permanently displaced from their ancestral home by the Manitoba flood of 2011? Why did the Manitoba Government use a water control structure to save upstream cottagers and farmers, who had only an economic and recreational interest in the land, but not the people with a deep connection to the land? The Manitoba Government brought further disaster to this community by unilaterally deciding to build a $100 million water channel beside their reserve and to relocate the community against their will to an old military base.

 

 

A Folly of Nero

Distributor: CNRS ImagesFrance

Producer: Paul Rambaud and CNRS Images 11 minutes

In 2009, on Palatine hill in Rome, an excavation carried out by a team of French and Italian archaeologists brought to light the remains of an outstanding building that could be the base of the revolving dining room of Nero’s palace. Nero’s palace was made famous by descriptions handed down by ancient authors, who emphasize its size and splendor. However, little is known about this “golden house,” the Domus Aurea, because the buildings erected by Nero’s successors have largely covered it.

 

 

The Forty: Saving the Forgotten Frescoes of Famagusta

Distributor: Dan Frodsham UK

Producer: Dan Frodsham 21 minutes

For five hundred years, an exquisite Renaissance fresco depicting the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste has remained hidden, forgotten and neglected on the wall of a fourteenth century church in Famagusta, Cyprus. The Forty charts the painstaking work of rescuing the fresco from obscurity and ruin. The fresco is part of a pioneering project that puts heritage above politics. After decades of neglect, the work of saving Famagusta’s forgotten frescos begins.

 

 

The Fuentedueña Apse: A Journey from Castille to New York

Distributor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art USA

Producer: Digital Media Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 28 minutes

This documentary chronicles the dismantling of the apse from the twelfth century Church of San Martín in Fuentidueña, Spain, and its reconstruction between 1958 and 1961 in New York City at The Cloisters. The film combines archival footage of the apse, commentary by noted art historians and reminiscences fifty years later by members of the dismantling crew to portray the history of this exquisite example of Romanesque architecture. Interviews with the museum’s curatorial and scientific staff provide details about the challenges of preserving this limestone monument and the importance of this space as an outstanding performance venue and essential component of educational activities.

 

 

A Garden within the Violence

Distributor: King’s Tower Productions, Inc. USA

Producer: Jozef K. Richards 22 minutes

A young German recounts a week spent on a farm in Colombia in 1967 when he fell into a pit and sustained a leg injury while on his way to rendezvous with his love, Maria. This story takes place amidst the historical period of La Violencia, an especially violent and traumatic period in South American history.

 

 

*Ghosts of Murdered Kings

Distributor: WGBH Nova/PBS USA

Producer: Edward Hart and Dan McCabe 51 minutes

In the rolling hills of Ireland’s County Tipperary, a laborer harvesting peat from a dried-up bog spots the remnants of a corpse and stops his machine just in time, revealing a headless torso almost perfectly preserved and stained dark brown by the bog. Archaeologists recognize the corpse as one of Europe’s rare bog bodies: prehistoric corpses flung into marshes with forensic clues often suggesting execution or human sacrifice. The corpse eventually will be dated to the Bronze Age, over 3,000 years ago. Many of these were victims of shocking violence–showing evidence of axe blows, hanging and stab wounds. Like a crime thriller, NOVA follows archaeologists and forensic experts in their methodical hunt for clues to the identity and the circumstances of this and other violent deaths of bog body victims.

 

 

Gods and Kings

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: Rachel Lears 88 minutes

In the muddy market square of Momostenango, Guatemala, where shamans burn offerings in the shadow of a Catholic church, a bizarre spectacle is occurring. Horror movie monsters jostle through the crowd, followed by Mexican pop stars, Japanese game avatars, and dictators from the dark years of the 1980s. Unlike the folkloric performances long studied by anthropologists, the new Disfraz dance won’t show up on any postcard. In some villages, it’s even been banned for frightening tourists. So how did these fiberglass masks of Xena: Warrior Princess come to be blessed in the smoke of Maya altars? In a town where Hollywood B-Movie villains are real evil spirits, stories can’t be taken lightly.

 

 

Heritage at Risk: Recording the History of Bora, Scotland, before It Washed Away

Distributor: Regan Alsup USA

Producer: Regan Alsup 10 minutes

This video is the product of two weeks spent in Scotland in the spring of 2014 documenting the immediate threat that coastal erosion presents to Scotland’s more than 12,000 archaeological sites, which contain artifacts from all periods and link directly to the communities’ cultural heritage. As climate change causes increasingly common and severe storms, the threat from erosion grows. This film looks specifically at Bora, a town in northeastern Scotland, where a volunteer-based excavation led by SCAPE Trust recorded the town’s historic saltpans before a big storm washed them away.

 

 

Heroes of Chingay

Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysai (FINAS) Malaysia

Producer: Regan Alsup 30 minutes

The extraordinary art of Chingay is introduced by two rival team leaders via a real-time and riveting plot. The story follows the many struggles and challenges both parties face before finally meeting on the battle field at the Chingay Championship Competition. The hardship, dedication, passion and fighting spirit of these Chingay performers has propelled this remarkable form of street art over a decade. This film explores the roots of Chingay and asks why the Chingay performers are so persistent in pushing the limits to pursue perfection.

 

 

Hollow

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: Elaine McMillion Sheldon 104 minutes

Hollow is an interactive documentary and community participatory project, examining the future of rural America through the eyes of those living in McDowell County. Focusing on the residents who have stayed during the tumultuous times, Hollow is a story of hope and home. A lack of economic opportunity has resulted in McDowell County losing almost 80 percent of its population since 1950 and continuing to lose more young people every year. However, many people continue to live and work in the county and they feel a great sense of pride and belonging in the coalfields and believe they are there to help improve and move the county into the future.

 

 

*Impact of the Frolic

Distributor: The Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology USA

Producer: Georgia Fox and Brian Brazeal 29 minutes

In the summer of 1984, archaeologist Thomas Layton unearthed some unexpected Chinese artifacts at a Native American site in Mendocino County, California. Driven to discover their origins, Dr. Layton set out on a quest to solve the riddle of the mysterious potsherds. These potsherds had been recovered from a cargo of Chinese porcelain spilled from a Gold Rush shipwreck. How these altered the perception of Chinese immigration into the United States and its impact on both sides is the subject of this film. What he eventually uncovered was the story of vast cultural connections and a shipwreck that impacted California forever.

 

 

In the Heart of China

Distributor: RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana Italy

Producer: RAI Radiotelevisione Itailana 62 minutes

In the Heart of China is a documentary directed by Duilio Gianmaria and produced by RAI, Tg1, RAI World and CCTV (China Central Television), in collaboration with the Marche Region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development. The film looks into missionary activities began by Matteo Ricci. These activities had an impact on the economic situation in China. This film looks into the causes and effects of these missionary activities.

 

 

In Search of Carr’s Fort

Distributor: Cosmos Mariner Productions USA

Producer: Dan Kurtz 25 minutes

Dan Elliot of the LAMAR Institute set out to document Carr’s Fort, a fortified farmstead used during the American Revolutionary War. The fort was originally commanded by Captain Robert Carr and housed his 100 patriot troops. In February of 1779, the woods of north Georgia were bristling with small skirmishes between the patriots and the British. The battles helped determine the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Carr’s Fort and its sister sites are part of the fabric of the history of America.

 

 

In the Stream

Distributor: Pandora Film Norway

Producer: Morten Offerdal 10 minutes

This film is a tribute to two people and the love between them. On the Havra farm there is a stream that connects the mountain to the yard, and the yard to the fjord. Life on the farm has orbited around the stream for hundreds of years and if the stream could talk it would tell a story of the hard struggle of everyday life, of happy days in the beautiful sunshine and of love so strong that it survived thousands of rainy days. Although the stream never ceases to roar, the life around it is growing silent.

 

 

The Invisible City: Fragments of Roman Trieste

Distributor: Regione Autonoma Friulivenezia Giulia—Produzioni Televisive Italy

Producer: Regione Autonoma Friulivenezia Giulia—Produzioni Televisive 48 minutes

"From up here, you cannot see anything; there are people who say it's down below there, believe it or not... At night, if you put your ear to the ground, you can sometimes hear a door slamming." In 1972 Italo Calvino described thus one of his Invisible Cities. From that passage was born the idea of this documentary, which attempts to recount Roman Trieste in a different way. Fragments of an invisible city, for the first time re-composed using virtual reality.

 

 

*The Joss Stick Maker

Distributors: National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) Malaysia

Producer: Kang Ming Sze 24 minutes

The UNESCO World Heritage city of Georgetown, Penang, harbors not only historical buildings, but also some of Malaysia’s last traditional craftsmen, such as Mr. Lee Beng Chuan, who still makes joss sticks by hand. Against the tide of mass-produced incense sticks flooding the market this Chinese New Year, 80-year-old Lee is determined to make a special 12-foot high dragon joss stick entirely by hand. The process of crafting a joss stick and Mr. Chuan’s life story highlights the unique cultural connection joss sticks have for the Malaysian people.

 

 

*Kingdom of Salt: 7000 Years of Hallstatt

Distributors: Diputacion De Alicante Spain

Producer: Joan Vicent Hernandez 23 minutes

Hallsatt is a small village in the heart of the Austrian Alps. It is located on the shores of Lake Hallstatt, at the foot of the high mountains. From time immemorial its existence was linked to the exploitation of the rock salt mines in these mountains that has continued over the centuries. However, this has been just a fraction of its archaeological importance to European prehistory. These mines have brought worldwide fame and notoriety to Hallsatt and have made it deserving of its declaration as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1977.

 

 

Lacus Timavi

Distributor: Regione Autonoma Friulivenezia Giulia—Produzioni Televisive Italy

Producer: Regione Autonoma Friulivenezia Giulia—Produzioni Televisive 49 minutes

The ancients regarded the Adriatic Sea with a certain dread, defining it as a dark sea. In CaputAdriae,its northern extreme, came the earliest contacts with pre-classical Aegean cultures. The Lacus Timavi, a wide body of water bounded by a system of sandbanks and islands, is where the sea lapped the shore and where the Timavo River resurfaced from its mysterious subterranean wanderings. The headwaters of the river became both the boundary and the place of encounter and exchange between the lands of the ancient Veneti and the Histri tribes of Istria. This forgotten history is brought back to life in the rooms and exhibits of Italian and foreign archaeological museums.

 

 

The Land of the Dancers: The Revelation of the Chakana

Distributor: Polinario Tanta Ramírez Peru

Producer: Polinario Tanta Ramírez 40 minutes

The author offers a fascinating self-reflexive exploration of the cultural, political and spiritual meaning of chakana (or Inca cross). From multiple perspectives, as a Jesuit priest, scissor dancer, visual anthropologist, and Quechua, he incorporates a central graphic symbol for the dancers of scissors, describing the dancers of scissors tradition, history and impact on the culture. Each perspective adds a unique dimension and a fresh understanding of this unique tradition.

 

 

Libya Unknown: A Forgotten Civilization

Distributor: None Malta

Producer: Michael Bonello 50 minutes

The ancient Libyan civilization of the Garamantes, which was located in the Sahara Desert, flourished for some 1,500 years. From their capital of Germa, their influence extended over an area the size of Europe. This civilization was effectively forgotten until its rediscovery in the latter part of the 20th century. The film reveals what we now know of this remarkable people: their origins and ethnicity, their religious beliefs and social structures, their political organization, their relations with the Roman Empire to their north and the African peoples to their south and, above all, how they harnessed the underground waters of the desert.

 

 

Libya Unknown: Waters Under the Earth

Distributor: None Malta

Producer: Michael Bonello 51 minutes

This film shows the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic and early Neolithic pastoralists of the Holocene period (the last 12,000 years). The narrative theme of the film is water. The film shows how the early rivers and lakes influenced the settlement and movement of our stone-age ancestors in the desert. With the increasing desiccation of the Sahara after about 5,000 BP, man was able to adapt to this climatic change by tapping the waters that are now only found beneath the earth. The extraordinary transition of the emergence, almost three thousand years ago, of the Garamantian civilization is highlighted. In so doing, the film stresses the critically important link between conservation and sustainable development.

 

 

Living in Harmony

Distributor: None Canada

Producer: WFG 14 minutes

Looking at the mysterious and often misunderstood world of the Hutterites in Manitoba, this film explores the lives of teachers, students, ministers, and even hockey players living on the small colony of Crystal Springs. The film explores why they choose to stay on the colony and enjoy the simple life and strong sense of community while others choose to leave it all behind.

 

 

Living with the Earth

Distributor: Julie Perron Canada

Producer: Julie Perron 15 minutes

Shot entirely in northern Greece, archeobotanist Tania Valamoti and her team are finding and analyzing seed remains from the Neolithic period on the Dikili Tash excavation field. These seeds could help define how the ancient Neolithic people grew their food.

 

 

Lost Civil War Prison, a Time Team America Presentation

Distributor: Public Broadcasting Service USA

Producer: Dave Davis 53 minutes

In the fall of 1864, the Confederate Army marched Union prisoners into a hastily built compound called Camp Lawton in Jenkins County, Georgia. The population mushroomed to more than 10,000 in just six weeks. Then, as Sherman’s army approached, guards and prisoners alike were forced to flee. Abandoned, the camp disappeared into the forest and remained undisturbed for over a century, until a team from Georgia Southern University surveyed the site. They found what appeared to be the camp stockade wall, Civil War era coins, and a daguerreotype. The rest was waiting to be uncovered.

 

 

*The Mahouts of Kerala

Distributor: Barbara Ertz, Barbara Ertz Film Production Germany

Producer: Barbara Ertz, Barbara Ertz Film Production 50 minutes

In the midst of bustling traffic, wiry men can be seen leisurely weaving their elephants between cars and motorized rickshaws. Unperturbed by the noise and crowds around them, the mahouts ride atop their bulky creatures as they wander majestically through the city. For Hindus, elephants symbolize the highly revered god Ganesha, who is responsible for happiness and fortune. Over 5000 mahouts live in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. The men look after the elephants of temples and wealthy private citizens. The elephants are the highlight of every religious ceremony and festival in countless Hindu temples throughout the country. The Mahouts of Kerala is a window into the exotic world of the elephant-loving Princess Lakshmi and the mahout Kuttan, whose family has been caring for the Maharaja’s elephants for generations.

 

 

Making a Replica of a Stone Pluteus from the Church of St. Peter the Great in Dubrovnik

Distributor: None Croatia

Producer: Vedran Kundic 6 minutes

This film comes from the graduate work of Vedran Kundić: “Making a replica of a stone pluteus from the church of St. Peter the Great in Dubrovnik.” In preparing the replica of the pluteus (which originally comes from the church of St. Peter the Great in Dubrovnik, and today is in the church of St. Nicholas, in the same town) original technique and technology were used and the stones used were very close to the original material in appearance and properties. The entire stone masonry work was documented by the stop-animation technique in order to point to the options of the mentioned technique in documenting a restoration work on a cultural property in general.

 

 

Masao Hadley: The Worship of Nan Madol

Distributor: Adam Thompson USA

Producer: Paul Ehrlich and Adam Thompson 25 minutes

This film documents the knowledge of the late Pohnpeian historian, Masao Hadley, on the ancient worship that once took place at the site of Nan Madol, on the island of Pohnpei. Hadley goes into the history, culture and tradition of the ancient peoples of Nan Madol, paying specific attention to their religious practices and the importance of these practices to the people.

 

 

Masjid Kapitan Keling

Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysai (FINAS) Malaysia

Producer: Mohd Sharawi Wahab 44 minutes

The Chulier Mosque, originally built in 1798, gave way under the Kader Mohideen Maraikayyar and the Leith administration to a structure that was built in 1801 with funds donated by the Indian Muslim traders and East India Company. This marble structure underwent numerous renovations and the moghul-inspired mosque is breathtaking. The copper dome or kubah is the only one of its kind in Malaysia, and now weather-beaten and leaking, so the Indian Muslim community, with the help of Think City & Ausheritage, are racing to save it.

 

 

*Maximon: Saint or Devil

Distributor: AJAX FILMS Guatemala

Producer: Suzan Al-Doghachi 66 minutes

This film is a documentary about a controversial Maya deity who personifies good and evil simultaneously. Maximon, also known as a San Simon, or the drinking and smoking saint of Guatemala, is a mixture of ancient Maya beliefs and Christianity. The movie concentrates on the people who surround Maximon with their strong personalities, opinions and faith. Maximon is honored and loved because he performs miracles, but he is also feared and despised because he is used to cast curses that can result in death. Giving us a rare view into the rituals and fiestas honoring Maximon, the documentary leads us on a journey that is both joyous and terrifying. Ultimately Maximon transcends the duality of good and evil, reflecting the Maya cosmovision in which everything in the universe co-exists.

 

 

Mining on the Swell

Distributor: Michael Searcy USA

Producer: Michael Searcy 18 minutes

Uranium in Utah has a long and rich history. The boom in the 1950s sent prospectors across the state in search of their fortune. This film highlights the lives of several miners who roamed the desert landscape of the San Rafael Swell, an area in central Utah, where the sun was always blazing hot and the Geiger counters always clicking.

 

 

Monte Pruno’s Prince

Distributor: None Italy

Producer: Donato Rizzo 6 minutes

The territory between the Sele River, the Strait of Messina and Metapronto was known as Enotria from the Greek oinos (wine land). In the fifth century B.C., with the arrival of the ethnic group Osco-Sabellica, it took the name of Lucania. The expansionism of the new people clashed with the interests of the Greek colonies of southern Italy, generating conflicts. The control of the Monte Pruno road became strategic not only from a military perspective, but also for the exchange of the merchandise. The Lucania population was writing a visible chapter of its own history.

 

 

Motel of the Mysteries

Distributor: Claudio Benedetti Italy

Producer: Associazione V.O.L.O.-Viaggiando oltre l'orizzionte 3 minutes

It is the year 4022 and most of the ancient known world has been buried under many layers of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred about two thousand years before. Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist, is digging up the remains of a typical American motel bathroom. He draws the objects and gathers all the available data, but the extraordinary conclusions he reaches are actually totally wrong. This brief screen adaptation is not just a humorous spoof of archaeology (and archaeologists), but it is also food for thought about the traps of a hasty interpretation of the archeological context when it is not supported by a satisfactory amount of data.

 

 

Myanmar World Heritage

Distributor: Duna Films International Italy

Producer: RAI Educational and Duna Film 60 minutes

Myanmar - New Horizons tells the fascinating history of a civilization, from the discoveries that came to light with the British excavations of the early 20th century to the arrival of the Italian Archaeological Mission about 10 years ago. We journey to this mysterious and fascinating country, which was almost entirely closed to the world until recently. We travel through a corner of Asia virtually unchanged since the days of the British Empire, uncovering all its natural beauty and its people, still loyal to their ancient traditions. The city states of the Pyu-era, Sri Kshetra, Halin, and Baikthano are the focus of the excavations and will be examined from historical, social and cultural points of view.

 

 

The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: Sam Low 58 minutes

Over 1,000 years ago, the islands of Polynesia were explored and settled by navigators who used only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds for guidance. The ancestors of today’s Polynesians sailed across a vast ocean area. Anthropologist and film maker Sanford Low visited the tiny coral atoll of Satawal in Micronesia’s remote Caroline Islands. There he spoke with Mau Piailug, one of the few men who still practiced the once essential art of navigation in the Pacific. The film probes the history of navigation through archaeology and accounts of explorers such as Captain Cook, without losing sight of the traditional ways Pacific societies sustained the system of navigation and navigators.

 

 

New Evidence of Early Man: Suppressed

Distributor: BC Video, Inc. USA

Producer: Marshall Payn 84 minutes

What happens when scientific evidence conflicts with theory? In the early 1960s, exquisitely carved animal bones and advanced spear points found in central Mexico caused much excitement until the dates came in. Five mutually exclusive geological tests revealed they were over 250,000 years old, yet in spite of the geochronology, archaeologists insisted the dates were ridiculously old. This world class archaeological region has since become off-limits for official research. This is the story of the shocking events that occurred, told first-hand by many of the actual participants. It reveals how one field of science can conflict with another and how new discoveries must pose evidence vs. belief; exposing what some have called the dark side of archaeology.

 

 

*No Place is Far Away

Distributor: Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía Mexico

Producer: Enedina Molina Mendoza 85 minutes

The Tarahumara of Chihuahua, Mexico, are a people at the mercy of a landscape in transformation; standing on the brink of an encroaching reality, one in which the age-old fears of the inhabitants are being realized. A hamlet has survived, perched in a remote location where its children can grow up and the elderly can die and remain in place. Here is where the inhabitants of this little hamlet, deep in the heart of Mexico, rely on each other for survival. Resources are tough and challenging to obtain in such a remote location. Join the film makers as they capture the story of this place to discover how the inhabitants have survived in the face of resort development by newcomers and to give outsiders an insight into their world.

 

 

Off Track

Distributor: USC School of Cinematic Arts USA

Producer: Drew Diamond, Daniel Leeds, Pricilla Spencer 14 minutes

As the Mexican-American war rages, rumors of gold lead cartographer Patrick O’Sullivan and two of his fellow soldiers to desert from the US army in search of riches in the unmapped regions of present-day California. The three are lost and near death when they stumble upon an unlikely guide – the pul (shaman) of a local tribe. As Patrick tries to take advantage of the pul’s knowledge of the area to search for gold, he discovers that the man has his own motives for assisting Patrick’s efforts to map the land. This discovery redirects Patrick’s egotistic journey into a historical opportunity to refocus his life on a mission greater than himself.

 

 

Old Stone Fort

Distributor: Camera One USA

Producer: Gray Warriner 30 minutes

The Old Stone Fort stands apart as the most spectacular archaeological setting in eastern America. In spite of a veneer of earth, Old Stone Fort is one of very few stone structures ever built by the people of the ancient America’s Woodland Culture. Contrary to its name, this was never a fort. Rather, it was a sacred place designed to draw people in, not keep them out. For the Middle Woodland people who built it, water and religion may have blended to make this site unique. Using modern geophysical tools, a young archaeologist reveals part of the long-hidden story. A tribal historian recounts ancient beliefs and stories that help interpret Old Stone Fort.

 

 

On-A-Slant: Miti-bah-wah-esh

Distributor: NDSU USA

Producer: Jeffery T. Clark and Brian M. Slator 12 minutes

On-A-Slant is a visual immersion into a previous era on the Great Plains and provides a means to travel through time and walk through a Mandan Village as it existed around 1776. The animated village reconstruction is based on scholarly research of the site, the native population and the era. It is as historically accurate as the documentation allows.

 

 

*On the Trail of the Far Fur Country

Distributor: Five Door Films Canada

Producer: Kevin Nikkel 81 minutes

The Romance of the Far Fur Country was released in 1920, two years before the legendary film Nanook of the North. Upon rediscovering the documentary in a British archive, another film crew begins a journey to bring this lost film back to life, taking it to the northern communities where the film was originally shot. As people watch the footage from 1919, something special happens. Images come to life; people recognize their family members, their landscapes and their lost traditions. Contrasting then and now, On the Trail of the Far Fur Country is an intimate portrait of Canada and its Aboriginal people and a chronicle of how life in the North has changed in the last century.

 

 

*Operation Lune: The SunKing’s Secret Shipwreck

Distributor: NoneFrance

Producer: ARTE France and Grand Angle Productions 55 minutes

Experience in this film an exceptional archaeological investigation and a breathtaking dive into the heart of the wreck of La Lune, flagship of Louis XIV. La Lune sank off Toulon in November 1664, when the ship returned from an expedition to the North African coast with nearly a thousand men on board, ordinary seamen and men of high noble lineage. But under pressure from the Sun King and his entourage, who intended to hide the tragedy, La Lune was quickly forgotten. Until now. Nearly twenty years after its discovery, technological innovations finally allow the exploration of the ship. Michel L'Hotu, director of underwater archaeological research at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, leads the exploration of this unique wreck. The documentary takes viewers on a double adventure: a historical epic set at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV and an archaeological exploration.

 

 

Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus

Distributor: Patterns of Evidence, LLC USA

Producer: Peter Windahl 121 minutes

Is the history found in the Bible credible? Is there any hard evidence to support the biblical story of the Exodus? An in-depth investigation by documentary film maker Tim Mahoney searches for answers to these questions amid startling new finds that may change traditional views of history and the Bible, and finds how these new findings cement that which is found in the Bible to be historically accurate.

 

 

*Perfume Regained

Distributor: CNRS Images France

Producer: CNRS Images 28 minutes

In Pompeii and diverse locations in Italy, some archaeological discoveries, in their different ways, serve to improve our knowledge of perfumes produced and enjoyed in Classical times. Jean-Pierre Brun, an archaeologist from the Jean Berard Center in Naples, and Xavier Fernandez, a chemist from the Chemistry Laboratory of Bioactive Molecules and Fragrances in Nice, gather their competencies and work together to reconstitute the fragrances of a perfume thousands of years old, based on Italian roses. This perfume has an intricate history and its unique existence gives an insight into the lives and the overall culture of Roman people in antiquity.

 

 

Power to the Pedals

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: Bob Nesson 32 minutes

ToWenzday Janes, a bicycle meant personal freedom when she was growing up in public housing outside Boston. She would later develop a passion for mechanics and welding and learn how to reshape the world around her. Now a self-taught innovator and revolutionary community leader, she heads an urban movement to replace trucks with cargo bicycles for local delivery, municipal waste-hauling and agricultural distribution. She’s creating a more sustainable future by helping others discover the power of the pedal.

 

 

Resurrection Science

Distributor: Terranoa France

Producer: Thibaut Martin 52 minutes

Imagine a living, breathing dinosaur, mammoth, or Neanderthal. This is the story of science’s latest frontier. Resurrection Science is a global scientific investigation into DNA sequencing and bio-molecular cloning, to understand how scientists around the world are competing to be the first to rewrite the history of our planet and resurrect creatures from the past. Far from science fiction, three scientists have made it their mission to turn this dream into reality. From the labs of MIT to those of Kyoto, capabilities are here: it is no longer a matter of if, only a matter of when.

 

 

*The Resurrection Tomb Mystery

Distributor: None Canada

Producer: Simcha Jacobovici and Felix Golubev 44 minutes

This documentary explores a stunning new archaeological find that revolutionizes our understanding of Jesus, his earliest followers and the birth of Christianity. In 2010, using a specialized robotic camera developed in Toronto, film maker Simcha Jacobovici worked with archaeologists, geologists and forensic anthropologists to explore a sealed, previously unexcavated First Century tomb in Jerusalem. The limestone ossuaries, or bone boxes, they uncovered and their associated carvings of Jonah, the big fish, and a Greek inscription are some of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made. The film offers a dramatic witness to what the people who knew Jesus actually believed. It is the firsthand account of how the discovery happened and what it means. Part archaeological adventure, part Biblical history, part forensic science, part theological controversy, The Resurrection Tomb Mystery is a story that continues to reverberate around the world.

 

 

Returning Souls

Distributor: DER Taiwan

Producer: Hu Tai-Li 85 minutes

The carved pillars of the matrilineal Amis tribe’s famed ancestral house recount tribal legends such as The Great Flood and The Glowing Girl and are home to the ancestral spirits of the Amis. The pillars, however, were removed from the village for exhibition in Taiwan's Institute of Ethnology Museum after a typhoon toppled the house 40 years ago. This film follows a group of young Amis who seek to restore their people’s connection with their ancestors. Working with female shamans, the Amis successfully reconstructs the ancestral house. This documentary interweaves reality and legend in its presentation of a unique case of repatriation.

 

 

The Road to Petra

Distributor: Media Venice Comunicazione Italy

Producer: Alberto Castellani Media Venice 60 minutes

Alberto Castellani and his troupe have been in Saudi Arabia following an invitation from the Saudi Ministry for Tourism and Culture to film the archaeological site of Madain Saleh, known as the Petra of Saudi Arabia. One of the most isolated outposts of the Arabian Desert, the site was the southernmost settlement of the Kingdom of Nabataea. This shows that the kingdom’s commercial interests did not hinge exclusively around its capital.

 

 

Rock Music Rock Art

Distributor: Zuleika Kingdon UK

Producer: Distant Object Productions, Ltd. 43 minutes

On a mysterious island in Lake Victoria, numerous prehistoric rock gongs silently await their awakening. Four British contemporary classical musicians from the London Sinfonietta intrepidly visit the island by canoe. Joining forces with a group of traditional Ugandan folk musicians, they combine creative talents and bring the gongs to life. A sculpture team including Peter Oloya (Uganda) and Peter Randall-Page (UK) also participate in this unique cultural exchange. Their aim is to create a contemporary music and visual arts project that not only incorporates the music of the gongs, but brings sculpture, mixed media, film and photography into focus. This film documents the expedition from arrival, living arrangements, discoveries, and rehearsals, to final renditions.

 

 

*Roman Engineering: Aqueducts

Distributor: OZNA Partners Spain

Producer: José Antonio Muñiz 58 minutes

This documentary relives the moment in history when the decision was taken to build the aqueduct of Nemausus (modern Nimes in France). An engineer is commissioned to decide where to build the town and to provide it with an aqueduct to guarantee a water supply. Isaac Moreno allows the viewer to see all this through the eyes of that engineer. By means of precise and elaborate computer simulations, combined with superb pictures taken from the air and land, he helps us understand the structures and engineering needed to turn the Nimes aqueduct into a reality. Armed with that knowledge, he then takes us on a dizzying journey across the whole Roman Empire, where other breathtaking structures were built and challenges met with amazing technical solutions.

 

 

Root Hog or Die

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: Dan Kain 57 minutes

From early Colonial times, the rural hill towns of New England have been home to generations of dairy farmers who supported each other in tightly knit communities sustained by shared values, mutual needs and respect for the land. This film follows the cycle of one farming year across western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. In the course of the film we visit with an array of elders who reflect on farming’s deep natural patterns, share their family histories and personal memories and ponder the inevitable forces of technological and social change.

 

 

*Saving Mes Aynak

Distributor: None USA

Producer: Brent E. Huffman 63 minutes

Follow Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition. A Chinese state-owned mining company is closing in on the ancient site, eager to harvest $100 billion dollars worth of copper buried directly beneath the archaeological ruins. Only 10 percent of Mes Aynak has been excavated, though, and some believe future discoveries at the site have the potential to redefine the history of Afghanistan and the history of Buddhism itself. Qadir Temori and his fellow Afghan archaeologists face what seems an impossible battle against the Chinese, the Taliban and local politics to save their cultural heritage from likely erasure.

 

 

Saving Una’s Island

Distributor: Our Village Films, LLC USA

Producer: Melissa Phillips 86 minutes

In a remote Melanesian Village, a small clan struggles to save their culture and preserve island life for their children. Parents realize their children have not learned clan history and the skills needed to survive on their remote island. The parents quit their jobs and return to teach the children over a six week school break. We follow along as the children learn mat making, bure building, tapa cloth, herbal medicines, ancient rituals, and more. Parents and elders learn the children have felt removed from their culture and are surprised when the children’s desire to learn is as strong as the parent’s desire to teach.

 

 

*Search for Josiah Henson: The Man Behind the Story of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Distributor: PBS USA

Producer: Dave Davis 53 minutes

Josiah Henson’s 1849 autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and galvanized abolitionists. But for 30 years, he was enslaved here, on what was once a 270-acre plantation run by Isaac Riley. An acre of land and an old house are all that remain. Time Team America descends on an upscale Washington, DC, suburb, digging for clues beneath the manicured lawn and peeling back layers of the old kitchen floor to tell the story of one of the most important Americans of the Nineteenth Century.

 

 

Searching for the Sweet Life: Archaeology at the Chatsworth Plantation Site, Baton Rouge

Distributor: LSU Rural Life USA

Producer: Dennis Jones and Rob Kreiger 16 minutes

The Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum fulfilled a cultural resources management contract for L’Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge, LA, on Chatsworth Plantation. This data recovery project is the most extensive archaeological project to date on a plantation site in Louisiana. The project also excavated the remains of slave cabins that lay undisturbed, along with the sugar mill, beneath almost a century of south Louisiana’s riotous vegetation. Information on the extensive artifact collection (over 173,000) and faunal remains will be part of an electronic database available online to all future researchers. Searching for the Sweet Life shows how archaeology can provide the truth behind the moonlight and magnolias image of the Old South.

 

 

Shipwrecked on a Great Lake

Distributor: Pinewood Films/Port Credit Village Project Canada

Producer: Peter Rowe 52 minutes

An adventure docu-drama from Canadian producer and director, Peter Rowe, Shipwrecked on a Great Lake is the story of Ned Myers, a 24-year-old Canadian-American sailor who was one of the few survivors of the shipwreck of two warships, the Hamilton and the Scourge, in August 1813. This is based on the story by James Fenimore Cooper, who appears as a character in the film.

 

 

*Six Centuries, Six Years

Distributor: None Iran

Producer: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb 83 minutes

This film portrays the endeavors of a group of Iranian master musicians who are trying to locate, restore and record a repertoire of compositions attributed to Abd al-Qadir Maraghi, a prominent composer who lived six centuries ago and greatly influenced Middle Eastern classical music. During their six-year journey, the group finally is able to reassemble a major portion of these works by sifting through manuscripts and other documents deeply buried in the archives of Persian and Turkish musical history. The film follows these musicians as they rediscover and then record forgotten music that deepens the roots of Persian music as far back as six centuries.

 

 

The Sound of Old Rooms

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: Sandeep Ray 72 minutes

The Sound of Old Rooms,filmed over 20 years, traces the life of Sarthak, an Indian man who juggles his desire to be a poet with the practicalities of raising a family. As a college student, he had time to drink with friends and discuss his writings. Now with work commitments, he struggles to continue his dream. The crumbling home where he was raised and still lives with his nagging but affectionate mother, wife and young son is extremely cramped. He sleeps, as he has since a child, surrounded by books. Sarthak leads us through Kolkata’s bars, apartments and alleyways as he tries to understand life and find meaning in his work.

 

 

Sounds of the Stone Age

Distributor: Petrus van der Let Film ProductionsAustria

Producer: Petrus van der Let 44 minutes

Cow horns, ceramic drums, bone flutes, mouth bows, and bull roarers are just a few of the instruments that were used to make music 7,000 years ago. Whether this also occurred in the ring ditches created during that time can only be a matter for speculation. The ring ditches consisted of wooden posts that were arranged in a circle and had several gates. The whole structure was surrounded by trenches dug in the earth. Using virtual archaeology, researchers can determine what these ditches were used for. This film delves into this idea and explores the various interpretations that exist.

 

 

Spike Island

Distributor: University College Cork Ireland

Producer: Dr. Barra O’Donnbhain 51 minutes

The focus of this project is the 19th century convict prison that operated on Spike Island in Cork harbor, Ireland, from 1847 until 1883. Originally a Napoleonic era fortress, the military barracks were converted into a prison in 1847 in response to the rise in public disorder that characterized the Great Famine (1845-1852). The Spike Island Archaeological Project integrates a variety of material culture, ethnographic and bioarchaeological approaches as a means of extending our understanding of the impact of penal servitude on individuals, while also shedding light on the place of the convict prison system in the broader imperial systems.

 

 

St. George at Akrefnio

Distributor: Association of Greek Archaeologists Greece

Producer: Association of Green Archaeologists 25 minutes

March the 15th, 1311. On a plain in central Greece, two armies are facing each other. On one side Frankish knights from the Duchy of Athens, on the other Catalan mercenaries of the Catalan Company demanding more benefits. The Frankish knights lose the battle and perish almost to the last. One of the few surviving knights Antoine le Flamenc, prays to St. George for holy assistance in battle. In gratitude for his salvation, the knight orders a church built, dedicated to St. George, in Akrefnio, Boeotia. This is his story.

 

 

Stories from Sand: Antonio Di Vita’s Libya

Distributor: None Italy

Producer: Università degli studi di Macerata and Fine Art Produzioni sr l32 minutes

In the 1960s Libya was reinventing itself. Modernity and tradition faced each other and clashed. A country was changing and I was a witness. I learned to observe reality without prejudice, without taking sides. The Libya of today and the Libya of yesterday are both represented in this documentary, from the memories of Professor Antonino Di Vita, one of the greatest protagonists of Mediterranean archaeology.

 

 

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysai (FINAS) Malaysia

Producer: Ira Rakiz Tuffile 27 minutes

If only walls could talk. More than a century old, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building embodies the history of Kuala Lumpur. This film brings the building to life, from its beginnings as the epicenter of British colonial rule in Malaya to the declaration of Malaysia’s independence. Through thick and thin, wars, floods, fires, the end of empires, and the birth of a new nation, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building seems destined to stand the tests of time. This is a building that is, in so many ways, at the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

 

 

Syracuse 3D Reborn

Distributor: Archeotour SRL Italy

Producer: Francesco Gabellone and Gianni Campo 26 minutes

Syracuse (Sicily, Italy), founded by the Corinthians in 733 BC, was the birthplace of poets and thinkers and visited by many prominent figures of Greek culture. Syracuse became one of the most influential Greek cities of the Mediterranean basin. Nonetheless, Syracuse has never received the attention it deserves either in scientific literature or in the mainstream. A starting point is represented by a virtual archaeology project, aimed at the overall digital reconstruction of the core district of Greek Syracuse and the production of a documentary entitled, Siracusa 3D Reborn. This paper aims to present the framework of open issues related to knowledge, local perception, presentation to the public, and interpretation of Greek heritage.

 

 

*Talking Stone: Rock Art of the Cosos

Distributor: DER and Bradshaw Foundation USA

Producer: Paul Goldsmith 54 minutes

Hidden away in the canyons of a top-secret military base on the edge of the Mojave Desert is the largest concentration of rock art in North America, perhaps in the world. Created thousands of years ago by a now-vanished culture, it represents the oldest art in California. Talking Stone explores these remote canyons and the mysteries surrounding these indelible images. Who created these rock art images? Why did they create these images? What does that say about their culture in the grand scheme of humanity? All of these questions are examined in further detail.

 

 

Tara: The Journey of Love and Passion

Distributor: Kumar Raj ProductionsIndia

Producer: Kumar Raj 105 minutes

Tara is the saga of an illiterate illegal brewer – an Indian gypsy woman – who is outlawed from her house and hamlet by her husband, allegedly for adultery, when she is nine months pregnant. Will she survive? Will she commit suicide? Is she innocent? Will she be able to prove her innocence? Find out in this story about love, loss, heartache and the realities of being an Indian gypsy woman.

 

 

Tchitundu: Huli Rock Art

Distributor: ACA LFTA France

Producer: ACA LFTA 41 minutes

Tchitundu-Huli is a film about the paintings and engravings at two of the four rock art sites of Tchitundu-Hulu: Tchitundo-Hulo Mulume (or man), and Tchitundo-Hulu Mucai (or woman). The complex, which houses these paintings, is located in the Moçâmedes Desert, in the Namib Desert. The two sites stand about a kilometer apart; the man has multiple rock carvings, with an overhang with drawings on its roof and the woman comprises a smaller shelter with two cavities. The two sites contain designs expressing essential elements of the thought and belief systems of the Ovatwa peoples. The carvings and paintings are superimposed, indicating a permanent human presence and rock carving tradition at the site.

 

 

The Temple of the Giants: The Olympieion of Akragas

Distributor: Techvision Sistemi Multimediali Sril Italy

Producer: Techvision Sistemi Multimediali Sril 19 minutes

An affluent city in Magna Graecia, an ambitious tyrant, an incredible victory over the most dreaded enemy, and a temple of colossal proportions. These are the ingredients of an exciting story, which brings together scientific diffusion and the pleasure of narrative. Thanks to 2D and 3D animation techniques, this documentary brings the ancient city of Agrigento back to life and reconstructs the historical, political and military events that led to the construction and subsequent destruction of an exceptional monument, an impressive metaphor of man’s power and fragility: the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

 

 

Torn

Distributor: The Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology USA

Producer: Brian Brazea l27 minutes

For thousands of years, stunning petroglyphs on the volcanic tablelands near Bishop, California, shimmered in the starlight. But then a menace struck. Looters with rock saws and chisels destroyed this ancient site, leaving everyone with one question...Why? This film delves into looting and the concept of stewardship as a responsibility of archaeologists. Why do looters loot? What is the archaeologist’s responsibility? And how can travesties like these be avoided in the future?

 

 

Touch Stones

Distributor: La FerrassieFrance

Producer: Ferrassie TV 57 minutes

For some time now, Claude Douce and Jean-Luc Piel-Desruisseaux have re-acquired a prodigious prehistoric treasure trove and are just waiting to reveal its story. Each piece they handle conjures up images and scenes from our unrecorded far-distant past. Together, they summon up the unseen forces and capture the presence of spirits around them. Their grand and exciting mission: to save and digitize the oldest collections, built up 150 years ago when the notion of Prehistory was beginning to surface in the Périgord Noir. So, sit back and enjoy! The skillfully shaped stones are there to guide you down ancient paths that will take you back millions of years.

 

 

Unearthing the Anglo Saxons

Distributor: Oxfordshire Museum Service UK

Producer: David Moon 12 minutes

Blacksmiths are commissioned to make a replica of a Saxon sword. This sword was buried with its owner and lay underground for 1,500 years until it was found by archaeologists excavating to make way for the Shivenham by-pass near Watchfield in the 1980s. This film follows the blacksmiths as they research the history and makeup of the sword and go through the process of creating a replica.

 

 

Villa Giulia in 9 Trails

Distributor: Techvision Sistemi Multimediali Italy

Producer: Techvision Sistemi Multimediali 120 minutes

This film describes the nine trails of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giullia. We follow the nine thematic trails to learn about the lives of these people who, until just a few years ago, were thought of as the most mysterious of all the populations in ancient Italy. Our journey will include amazing historic collections. The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia hopes to accompany the visitor on a journey of discovery, touching on all the aspects of this ancient civilization, from everyday routine to extraordinary events, such as lavish funeral ceremonies, and in so doing, unveil the secrets of their culture, their myths and their religious beliefs.

 

 

A Weave of Time

Distributor: DER USA

Producer: John Adair 61 minutes

A Weave of Time powerfully documents 50 years and four generations of change in one Navajo family. In 1938, noted anthropologist John Adair traveled to the Navajo reservation in Pine Springs, Arizona, and documented Navajo life in the 1930s in unprecedented ways. In A Weave of Time, the daily struggles for family stability, education and economic survival in contemporary America challenge the existence of traditional identity, including the Navajo religion, language and arts. This rich and telling film of the Burnside history becomes a complex microcosm of Navajo culture in transition and raises questions about the survival of ethnicity in 20th century America.

 

 

Who Stole the Treasure of Bassas da India

Distributor: Kwanza France

Producer: Constance Films 52 minutes

The deep waters around an exotic atoll off the coast of Madagascar have drawn the attention of the French Marine and Sub-marine Archaeological Department. Four hundred thousand silver coins and several canons have been smuggled to different museums. This precious bounty appears to come from a Portuguese shipwreck of the late 16th century, which sank into those waters: the Santiago. Michel L’Hour is pursuing three tasks: he intends to get the looters imprisoned, claim the treasure and find the remainder of the wreck. Reaching the wreck is not easy sailing: sharks and strong waves make it unsafe. Getting back the stolen pieces seems easier said than done. And are the police going to get hold of the looters?