<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-15" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18241"></HEAD>
<BODY style="MARGIN: 4px 4px 1px; FONT: 12pt Georgia">
<DIV>ArchaeologyFest Film Series: Best of 2008<BR> <BR>A benefit for The Archaeology Channel<BR>International Film and Video Festival<BR> <BR>Fifth Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall Blvd., Portland<BR>January 16-24, 2009<BR>Co-sponsored by PSU Film Committee and Dept. of Anthropology<BR> <BR>Ticket sales open at 6:30 pm. </DIV>
<DIV>Programs begin at 7:30 pm on dates indicated and will conclude by 9:30. Admission $6. Tickets available at the door. <BR></DIV>
<DIV>These are the best films from the 2008 edition of TAC Festival. And they are VERY GOOD. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(The 2009 edition of TAC Festival will take place at Eugene's Hult Center, May 19-23 see the info at the bottom of this message.) You can see clips from these films by going to </DIV>
<DIV><BR>_http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries.shtml_ <BR>(<A href="http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries.shtml">http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries.shtml</A>) .<BR> <BR>Program C: Friday, January 23:<BR> <BR>From Hutong to Highrise: The Transformation of Beijing (China) 21 min.<BR>Beijing, China, is fervently embracing the modern world. The city has been reinventing itself by replacing its historic urban fabric of narrow lanes (hutong) and courtyard houses (siheyuan) with highrise buildings and highways. The quest for modernization has, in large, destroyed much of Beijings heritage and has disrupted the way of life familiar to residents. From Hutong to Highrise documents the urgent debate between residents, preservationists, urban planners and developers over the future of the city.<BR> <BR>The Giant Buddhas (Switzerland) 86 min.<BR>In March 2001, two huge Buddha statues were blown up in the remote area of Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan. This dramatic event surrounding the ancient stone colossi unique proof of a high culture that bloomed until the 13th century along the Silk Road is the starting point for a cinematic essay on fanaticism and faith, terror and tolerance, ignorance and identity. Oscar <BR>nominated director Christian Frei's thought-provoking film journeys along a perimeter that both divides and unites people and cultures. (Audience Favorite film; Special Mention by Jury; Honorable Mention for Animation, Script, Music, and Inspiration by Jury)<BR> <BR>As a bonus, and to compensate for our technical difficulties experienced Saturday night, January 17, we will also show the following film, which was supposed to be shown last Saturday:<BR> <BR>Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods (USA) 52 min.<BR>This film explores the 3,000 yearold history of a divine substance through ritual an obsession. From Mayan Kings who were buried with it, to urban professionals who bathe in it, the film begins in ancient Mesoamerica and journeys throughout time to explore the history of chocolate in Europe's finest chocolate houses where this substance is still revered as one of mankind's <BR>highest expressions of decadence and pleasure. This film also features discoveries by several prominent Mayan archaeologists that substantiate the sacred role of chocolate in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and it captures for the first time an ancient, secret method of processing cacao beans that is still used today by women in rural Oaxaca. (Honorable Mention in Best Film competition; Most Inspirational competition and for Script and Music by Jury; Best Animation <BR>by Jury; Special Mention by Jury; Honorable Mention in Audience Favorite competition)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Program D: Saturday, January 24:<BR> <BR>Yamana: Nomads of the Fire (Italy) 52 min. <BR>The Yamana were the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and were at one time the guardians of an extraordinary civilization. Now extinct, they used their ingenious instinct to survive for thousands of years in an extreme land. They were dismissed by history, their races extinction caused by Europeans. But we still have much to learn from the Yamana. Ernesto Piana has spent <BR>the last thirty years of his life studying traces of the Yamana, and his research is helping overturn the prejudice and stereotyping the Yamana have suffered from their first encounters with civilization. (Honorable Mention in Best Film competition, Best Animation competition, Most Inspirational competition, and in Script and Cinematography by Jury; Best Narration by Jury; <BR>Honorable Mention in Audience Favorite competition)<BR> <BR>Komi: A Journey Across the Arctic (France/Germany) 52 min. <BR>Alexei and Vassili are both Komi, one of the most ancient indigenous peoples of Siberia. They live with their families on the border of the Arctic Circle, and are the last reindeer herders of this region, as all other Komi have abandoned this highly archaic and exhausting lifestyle. Each autumn, in order to feed their animals, these two families cross the Urals into Asia to escape the intense northern winters, returning again in spring when the weather is temperate. This film documents their long and perilous four-month journey with their 5,000 reindeer. (Best Film by Jury; Best Cinematography by Jury; Best Music by Jury; Most Inspirational by Jury; Honorable Mention for Narration and Script by Jury; Honorable Mention in Audience Favorite competition)<BR> <BR>TAC Festival returns to the Soreng Theater<BR> <BR>ALI is pleased to announce that the next edition of The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival will take place during May 1923, 2009, in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Eugene, Oregon. TAC Festival will bring to Oregon the worlds best films on archaeology and the world of indigenous peoples. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Please join us in welcoming to Eugene the people of the world for this cinematic celebration of the <BR>incredibly diverse human cultural heritage. Details at </DIV>
<DIV><BR>_http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml_ <BR>(<A href="http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml">http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml</A>) .</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>**************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay <BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>