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<DIV>To friends in and near Portland: We still have two more evenings to go in
our <EM>ArchaeologyFest Film Series:Best of 2009</EM>! (see the blurb on
the series below). Please come to see some outstanding films and help us
support TAC Festival 2010 by enjoying our PSU mini-festival at the Fifth Avenue
Cinema in Portland on Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23. This
last batch includes the top award winners! Keep in mind that these
are the world's best films in this genre. We also have this posted at <A title=http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries2009.shtml href="http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries2009.shtml">http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries2009.shtml</A>,
where you can actually see clips from the films. Please spread the word
where you can.
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rick Pettigrew<BR>Archaeological Legacy Institute</DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://www.archaeologychannel.org/ href="http://www.archaeologychannel.org/">www.archaeologychannel.org</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>***********************************************************************************************</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=5>ArchaeologyFest Film Series: Best of
2009</FONT><BR><FONT size=3>A benefit for <STRONG><EM>The Archaeology
Channel</EM></STRONG><BR>International Film and Video Festival</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=3>Portland State University’s<BR>5th Avenue
Cinema<BR>510 SW Hall Blvd.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=3>January 15/16 & 22/23, 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Doors open at 7 pm and programs begin at 7:30 pm on dates indicated.
Admission $6. Tickets at the door. These are the best films from the
2009 edition of TAC Festival. (The 2010 edition of TAC Festival takes
place at Eugene’s Soreng Theater, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, May
18-22.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Program A: Friday, January 15:<BR>
• <EM>The Antikythera Mechanism: Decoding an Ancient Greek Mystery</EM>
(UK) 14 min.<BR> More than a hundred years ago, sponge divers discovered
the remains of an extraordinarily sophisticated astronomical device off the
small Greek island of Antikythera. Previously identified as an
astronomical calculating machine used to predict eclipses and to set the timing
of the Olympic Games, it shows the ancient Greeks had a higher level of
technology hundreds of years earlier than was previously accepted. In 2006
a research team from the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project published a
paper proposing a radical new model of how the Mechanism worked. Using the
latest X-ray and imaging technologies and 3D animations developed from the data,
revealing its remarkable complexity, Don Unwin, master instrument maker, sets
out to build a working model in bronze. (Special Mention by Jury;
Honorable Mention for Animation by Jury; Best Special Effects by
Jury) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> • <EM>Treasures of the Fitzwilliam
Museum</EM> (UK) 26 min. <BR> The Fitzwilliam Museum is part of
Cambridge University and houses a world-class collection of art and
antiquities. In this film we uncover the secrets of four of its most
precious objects: Titian’s great, late masterpiece, Tarquin and Lucretia; the
3000-year old coffins of an Egyptian temple official; a rare 13th Century Gothic
manuscript that once belonged to the sister of Louis IX of France; and the
haunting impressionist masterpiece, Two Women at a Café, by Degas.
(Honorable Mention for Narration, Cinematography and Music by
Jury)<BR> <BR> • <EM>Uncle
Sem and the Bosnian Dream</EM> (Italy) 52 min.<BR> In Visoko, a far-flung
town in the heart of Bosnia, there are two hills that look like pyramids.
More than two years ago, Semir Osmanagic, an American businessman originally
from Bosnia, arrived in this small village claiming that the hills surrounding
the town were actually covering pyramids that are thousands of years old, the
last evidence of the legendary historic greatness of Bosnia. From that
moment, life in Visoko was never the same. And Semir has become a
celebrity. A true national hero. Semir and his pyramids arrived just
in time. Bosnia was more in need than ever of a great man and a great
tradition that could give importance to a country deeply wounded and martyred by
war. This film is a human comedy that, between its light and at times
bitter tones, recounts a year in the life of this microcosm just after the
pyramid discovery. (Special Mention by Jury; Honorable Mention for Script
by Jury)<BR> Schedule Continued on Back</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Program B: Saturday, January 16:</DIV>
<DIV> • <EM>From Grief and Joy We Sing</EM>
(USA) 53 min.<BR> The Quechua community of Q’eros in the Andes of southeast
Peru is renowned for traditional music, weaving, and spiritual rituals that many
other Andean communities no longer practice. Through personal accounts,
this documentary shows the annual cycle of Q’eros musical rituals, how Q’eros
people use music to express grief and joy, and how an indigenous people adapt to
urban society. (Special Mention by Jury; Honorable Mention for Script and
Most Inspirational by Jury)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> • <EM>The Twilight of the Celts</EM>
(Switzerland) 52 min.<BR> French-speaking Switzerland is the scene of an
extraordinary discovery. On Mormont Hill, diggers have unearthed a huge
Celtic sanctuary, the largest known to date. Two thousand years ago, the
Helvetians dug hundreds of shafts in this isolated spot to deposit offerings to
their gods: objects, animals, and fragments of human bodies. The discovery
enables archaeologists to inquire into the religious practices of Swiss
ancestors. Rituals, sacrifices and Druids: what do we know, or think we
know, about the remarkable Celtic civilization? In an attempt to answer
this question, this thriller-like film follows the excavations of the site and
the archaeologists’ work step by step. Sudden new discoveries immerse us
in a mysterious world transitional between the imaginative and the real. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Program C: Friday, January 22:</DIV>
<DIV> • <EM>Borneo: The Memory of Caves</EM>
(France) 52 min.<BR> In this exceptional scientific adventure up rivers in
the heart of the wild tropical rainforest of Borneo, the authors discover an
unexpected rock art site more than 10,000 years old during some twelve
expeditions to remote caves. Conducted by Luc-Henri Fage, speleologist and
photographer; Jean-Michel Chazine, archaeologist; and Pindi Setiawan, their
Indonesian partner from the Bandung Institute of Technology; this research
unveils a forgotten culture, lost within remote labyrinthine limestone
peaks, which sheds new light on Southeast Asian prehistory. (Honorable Mention
for Music by Jury; Honorable Mention in Audience Favorite competition)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> • <EM>The Last Romans</EM> (Belgium) 52
min.<BR> At the beginning of the Fifth Century, Imperial Rome is dying
out. However, Greco-Roman civilization lives on. In the East, cities
surrounding Constantinople continue to flourish and experience relative
stability until the end of the Seventh Century, when they become the Byzantine
Empire. One city, located in Anatolia in the province of Pisidia, tells
the story of this moment in history known as “Late Antiquity.” Untouched
for centuries, the city of Sagalassos sleeps, waiting for Marc Waelkens, a
Belgian archaeologist, to play the role of Prince Charming. The Last
Romans asks the question of how people lived during this maelstrom of history
between the Pax Romana and the first kingdoms of the Middle Ages.
(Honorable Mention for Best Film, Animation, and Script by Jury; Honorable
Mention in Audience Favorite competition) </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Program D: Saturday, January 23:</DIV>
<DIV> • <EM>Breaking the Maya Code</EM> (USA)
116 min.<BR> The complex and beautiful Maya
hieroglyphic script was, until recently, the world’s last major
un-deciphered writing system. Breaking the Maya Code is the story of the
200 year struggle, often hampered by misconceptions and rivalries, that has
ultimately unlocked the secrets of one of mankind’s great civilizations and
re-connected the modern Maya with their extraordinary past. It’s an epic
tale that leads from the jungles of Guatemala to the snows of Russia, from
ancient Maya temples to the dusty libraries of Dresden and Madrid. The
film is based on the book of the same title by Michael Coe, called by the NY
Times “one of the great stories of twentieth century scientific discovery.”
(Best Film, Animation, Script, Music, and Inspiration by Jury; Honorable Mention
for Narration, Special Effects, and Cinematography by Jury; Audience Favorite by
Festival Audience)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><U>TAC Festival 2010 Returns to the Soreng Theater:</U></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>ALI announces the next edition of <STRONG>The Archaeology Channel</STRONG>
International Film and Video Festival, May 18-22, 2010, in the Soreng Theater at
the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Eugene, Oregon. TAC
Festival will bring to Oregon the world’s best films on archaeology, ancient
cultures, and the world of indigenous peoples. Please join us in welcoming
to Eugene the people of the world for this cinematic celebration of the human
cultural heritage. Details at <A title=http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml href="http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml">http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml</A>.</DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>