SCHEDULE
(See "Program Details" below for individual program descriptions)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

1:00 pm Festival film screenings (films entered but not to be screened at the Hult
Center-see "Festival Film Screenings" below):

Umiaq Skin Boat (31 min.)
Heirs of Schliemann - Escape from Babylon (43 min)
Visit With Respect (9 min.)
Hanging Flume (60 min.)

3:30 "How to Read a Film" (A workshop presented by Claudia Hemphill Pine, Lecturer in Environmental Science, University of Idaho)

5:00 End

Thursday, May 20, 2010

1:00 pm Festival film screenings:

Tigarnakert: An Armenian Odyssey (17 min.)
Gold Diggers and Temple Rescuers - A Cambodian Expedition (26 min.)
What Is Archaeology? (6 min.)
Lifeprints (Traces de Vies) (54 min.)

3:00 "ALI's Cultural Heritage Film Distribution Program" (Presented by Dr. Richard Pettigrew, Executive Director, Archaeological Legacy Institute)

3:30 "The Envelope, Please!" (A round table discussion moderated by Claudia Hemphill Pine, Lecturer in Environmental Science, University of Idaho, with TAC Festival jurors and ALI film curators)

5:00 End

Friday, May 21, 2010

1:00 Festival film screenings: In the Shadow of Liberty: The Search for James Oronoco Dexter (54 min.)

2:00 Student film dramas from the University of Washington (Presented by Amy Jordan, Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology, University of Washington)

2:30 "The Making of Paddle Ship Patris" (Presented by Director Vasilis Mentogianis and Director of Photography Nikos Konitsiotis, both from Athens, Greece)

3:00 "Understanding Culture through Film: A Round Table Discussion with Professor Philip Young"

5:00 End

PROGRAM DETAILS

"How to Read a Film" (A workshop presented by Claudia Hemphill Pine, Lecturer in Environmental Science, University of Idaho)

Movies have been called the most complex of all art forms, combining the stories told in novels with more visual images than an art museum, a musical tour, and more. Cultural heritage films add lessons in science, reflections on history, and travel across global time and space, to make a kaleidoscope mix of images, information, and entertainment.

What do we call all the pieces? How do we talk about film? In this workshop session, film and anthropology teacher Claudia Hemphill Pine begins by reviewing the elements of film, using examples from the film festival to illustrate. Equipped with this understanding of cinema's key terms and techniques, we then look at how the Festival's films convey their meaning. Our discussion will focus on how the films we are viewing this week use camera work, setting, script, lighting, sound, special effects, and more to create the meanings we see.

"ALI's Cultural Heritage Film Distribution Program" (Presented by Dr. Richard Pettigrew, Executive Director, Archaeological Legacy Institute)

Film distribution is a hard nut to crack, but Archaeological Legacy Institute is evolving a distribution approach for cultural heritage film that takes advantage of diverse new online distribution outlets combined with a large network of film producers. Development of The Archaeology Channel (ALI's popular streaming media Web site) and The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival has moved ALI toward distribution as a natural component of its mission and business strategy. Rick Pettigrew, ALI's Executive Director, will explain ALI's distribution plans and lead a discussion about how to make it work.

"The Envelope, Please!" (A round table discussion moderated by Claudia Hemphill Pine, Lecturer in Environmental Science, University of Idaho, with TAC Festival jurors and ALI film curators)

Film awards are traditionally made by juries. Who's on a jury? What do they look for? Why do they sometimes disagree?

To learn all the answers, join a distinguished panel of TAC Festival film reviewers and jurors for a roundtable discussion of the many things considered in selecting our "best of the best." With film clips from this and previous years, discover the many features in each film that are factored into the final evaluation, such as:
* use of science
* filmmaking technique
* quality script, cinematography, and sound
* educational value
* archaeological and historical accuracy
* unique features
* respect for human diversity
* cross-cultural insights

Student film dramas from Univ. of Washington (Presented by Amy Jordan, Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology, University of Washington)

These two films were produced by students in the 2009 Archaeology 101
"Archaeology in Film" class, taught by Assistant Professor Ben Marwick
at the University of Washington. The aim of this class is to understand
the messages that films contain about popular culture's ideas of human
origins, the deep human past and archaeology as a profession. The films
are one of two major assignments for the class and were inspired by
modern blockbuster films that have prominent archaeological themes such
as Indiana Jones, Stargate and Tomb Raider.

Title: "Horror in Hagget Hall"
Running time: 15:50
Writers, directors, producers, actors, etc.: Kevin Shimota, Brittany Wolters, Jonny Damian, Holly Burton and John Ritzman
Synopsis: The location is UW-Seattle, undergraduate student Kevin and his girlfriend Brittany accidentally discover a powerful ancient artefact - an earring. They enlist the help of the archaeology team, John and Johnny, to investigate the find, they reveal it to be a danger to society because of it is power to reanimate the dead. Holly, the reanimated demon, starts killing those responsible for disturbing the earring. John and Johnny die as a result of the demon rampage and with the death of the specialist archaeologists, Kevin and Brittany must think like archaeologists to stop the demon's killing. Their research leads them to a secret held by Kevin's grandfather, which enables them to put an end to the demon's evils. The film explores themes of the character of the archaeologist, ancient danger being released into the modern world by archaeologists and reanimation of the dead.

Title: "A Career in Ruins"
Running time: 7:40
Writers, directors, producers, actors, etc.: Kimbi Macy, Katie Kurfurst, Lea Lonnberg-Hickling, Evan Christian Anderson and Toby Kahan
Synopsis: The location is UW-Seattle and Seattle environs. Kimbi and Katie are archaeologists who discover an ancient urn, which they deliver to a specialist, Dr. Wickenbockel, for further analysis. Dr Wickenbockel's work on the urn results in her becoming possessed by a 10th century Germanic Pagan goddess named Freya who is upset at the urn being disturbed. Kimbi and Katie consult another specialist who advises them on how to cure the possessed Dr Wickenbockel. The film explores themes of the character of the archaeologist, ancient danger being released into the modern world by archaeologists and possession by ancient entities.

"The Making of Paddle Ship Patris" (Presented by Director Vasilis Mentogianis and Director of Photography Nikos Konitsiotis, both from Athens, Greece)

The film Director (Vasilis Mentogianis) and Director of Photography (Nikos Konitsiotis) for Paddle Ship "Patris" Lost in 1968 . . . have come all the way from their native country of Greece to represent their film, which will be screened for the TAC Festival 2010 competition at the Hult Center on Saturday afternoon (May 22). Come to welcome them to Eugene and hear them describe how they made this movie. Then ask a few questions!

"Understanding Culture through Film: A Round Table Discussion with Professor Philip Young"

The first documentary film ever made was the famous - and sometimes infamous - Nanook of the North. From its very beginning, film has been used to understand and record the world's many fascinating cultures, and this use has raised nearly every question that must be asked about the study of both culture and film.

* How much of a culture can really be captured in a 20 to 40 minute film?
* How truthful are films that rely on re-enactment and re-creation?
* How can films be aesthetic and interesting while still challenging the viewers to take on new ideas and appreciate new ways of understanding?
* How do teachers, parents and filmmakers ensure that films aren't just seen as "entertainment"?
* What differences do anthropologists bring to film? Can a non-anthropologist make a great archaeological or ethnographic film? What changes when native peoples make, or help direct, a film?
* Who owns the cultural material that is shown in a film?
* What are the ethics of revealing conflicts or tragedy within another culture?
* In this age of internet and video, with everybody increasingly able not just to see, but to make and widely circulate their own film, what is the future for anthropology and culture in film?

Join us in welcoming longtime teacher and researcher Phil Young to our annual conversation of experts from filmmaking, anthropology, and education. Bring your own questions and observations to contribute to our ongoing discussion of art, ethics, education, science, society and anthropology in film.
of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. His current research focuses on the impact of national development on indigenous peoples, particularly in Central and South America, and on strategies for long-term adaptation and sustainability of cultures and environments under development. Among his other interests are linguistic anthropology, cognitive and functional linguistics, and golf.

Festival Film Screenings
These are highly rated films that narrowly missed being selected to be screened for the competition at the Hult Center.

Umiaq Skin Boat (31 min.)
Canada
Distributor: Documentary Educational Resources
Producer: Katarina Soukup, Catbird Productions

Umiaq Skin Boat is a beautiful and poetic 30-minute film about a group of Inuit elders in Inukjuak, Quebec, who decide one summer to build the first traditional seal skin boat their community has seen for over 50 years. Over the course of working together on the boat, the elders recount astonishing stories of survival while navigating volatile and unforgiving Arctic water.

Heirs of Schliemann - Escape from Babylon (43 min.)
Germany
Distributor:ZDF
Producer: Ulrich Lenze, CineCentrum GmbH

A king of mighty Babylon allegedly left his lush residence in his capitol city and vanished into the desert for a whole ten years. Indeed, traces of this mysterious regent can be found in the small town of Tayma in what is today's Saudi Arabia. But what could have drawn a Babylonian ruler to this unimpressive oasis in the middle of nowhere, and who was he?

Visit With Respect (9 min.)
USA
Distributor: Bureau of Land Management
Producer: Victoria Atkins, Margie Connolly and Shirley Powell, Bureau of Land Management

Visit with Respect demonstrates modern Pueblo people's connections with their ancestral homelands and the ancient landscapes of the American Southwest. Filmed in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and at the Pueblo of Acoma, the film includes interviews with a Hopi man and his 6 year old son, a Santa Clara elder and her 22 year old niece, and an Acoma tribal leader.

Hanging Flume (60 min.)
USA
Distributor: Camera One
Producer: Gray Warriner, Camera One

In this still wild land, it stands out, clearly fashioned by human hands. Amidst the tall tales is a seldom told story of the Wild West. Braced against weather and tumbling rocks, slowly decaying timbers still cling tenaciously, as if hanging on to the past. Travel back to 1891, when the flume carried water ten miles and powered hydraulic cannons for the Montrose Placer Mining Company.

Tigarnakert: An Armenian Odyssey (17 min.)
Armenia/USA
Distributor: N/A
Producer: Zareh Tjeknavorian

Tigranakert: An Armenian Odyssey chronicles the discovery of an ancient Armenian city built by Tigran the Great in the First Century B.C. It was founded as the new capital of the Armenian Empire with the intention of securing a central position inside the borders of the growing empire. Under the rule of Tigran the Great, the Armenian Empire became the strongest state east of the Roman Empire.

Gold Diggers and Temple Rescuers - A Cambodian Expedition (26 min.)
Germany
Distributor: Deutsche Welle TV (DW-TV)
Producer: Deutsche Welle TV (DW-TV)

Hardly any other country can boast of such a high concentration of temples, sculptures and archaeological sites as Cambodia. But many of these fascinating world heritage artifacts are under environmental threat or are in danger of being looted. Archaeologists and conservation experts are trying to salvage whatever they can to safeguard remote cult sites, burial grounds and rock reliefs.

What Is Archaeology? (6 min.)
USA
Distributor: Lithic Creative Media
Producer: Faith Haney

With scenes from 2006 fieldwork in central Washington State, Faith Haney offers her personal interpretation of archaeology. Haney created this video as a Career Day exhibit for Middle School students and in the process captured key insights about the values and purposes of archaeology.

Lifeprints (Traces de Vies) (54 min.)
France
Distributor: CNRS
Producer: L'Azalai/CNRS Images

Where did Austronesians come from? How did they live? There is still no concrete answer because those who were at the origin of the populating of the Pacific did not leave material tracks. However, in the Philippines they have direct descendants, the Taut' Batu. This film explores the most protected island in the Philippines and new hypotheses on the enigmatic peopling of the Pacific.

In the Shadow of Liberty: The Search for James Oronoco Dexter (54 min.)
USA
Distributor: Natural Art Films
Producer: Natural Art Films

Follow archaeologists and historians as they begin a search for an 18th Century man, James Oronoko Dexter, who once was enslaved. He was an African American who with others helped found some of the country's first African American social institutions. Thousands of artifacts are unearthed while one feature seems to contain household artifacts that date to the time Oronoko Dexter lived at the site.