Historic Archaeology: Beneath Kentucky’s Fields and Streets (USA) 58 min.
This documentary film examines what archaeologists are learning about daily lives of Euro-American settlers, slaves, laborers, and immigrants during the 1800s. The storytellers travel to historic sites across the Commonwealth, blending interviews with video, artifacts, archival photographs, and original animation for a fascinating look into the lives of ordinary people of the historic era in Kentucky. The documentary is presented in four segments based on archaeological periods; the Frontier, the Antebellum, Civil War, and Industrial. Each segment features key scientific discoveries made by some of the states' top archaeologists of the past decade. (Honorable Mention by Jury for Animation & Effects, Cinematography, Best Public Education, Best Script and Honorable Mention for Inspiration.)

New Beijing: Reinventing a City (Australia) 53 min.
"Better take a photo now as it will be no more," comments a local man as activist Zhang Jinqi snaps a photo of the man's traditional home in one of Beijing's narrow lane-ways. Zhang Jinqi's photography project, Memories of China, documents the remaining heritage districts of the old city which soon will be demolished. Focusing on the transition from old to new, the documentary gives a panoramic view of the biggest construction boom in history while charting the modern face of Beijing and its newly iconic buildings such as Watercube, Birds Nest Stadium and the National Theater. Wallace-Crabbe's film is a fascinating record of a period of extraordinary change in one of the oldest cities on earth. (Honorable Mention by Jury for Narration and Inspiration, Special Mention by jury for Best Depiction of Cultural Change.)

Guédelon: A Castle in the Making(Germany) 84 min.
To visit this site is to take a journey into history. The reason is as simple as it is unbelievable: in the forest of Saint-Sauveur, France, fifty craftsmen are constructing a castle following 13th Century techniques. The forest provides them with their building materials: water, stone, earth, sand, and wood. Construction uses no excavator, no drill, no electricity, and no internal combustion engine is in use. Quarriers, stone hewers, masons, and carpenters are working as they would have seven centuries ago as more than 300,000 visitors come each year to watch. It is a continuous, lively, and progressive building yard where towers, curtains, and the keep will spend twenty-five years emerging from the earth. Reinhard Kungel and his film team began working at Guédelon in 1999. (Honorable Mention by jury in Best Film Competition, Public Education Value and Most Inspirational. Honorable Mention in the Audience Favorite Competition.)

Naia and the Moon (Brazil) 13 min.
This imaginative drama is based on an indigenous tale from the Amazon Forest, in which young Naia learns from her tribe's elders stories of how the stars in the sky came to be. According to legend, the moon came out at night in search of the most beautiful Indian women. When he fell in love with a beautiful woman he would shine his light on her, transforming her blood into light, making her a star so she could be by his side forever. Naia falls in love with him instead and runs deep into the jungle to let his light shine on her. Seeing the moon's reflection in a deep lake, Naia believes that the moon came from heaven to take her. The young girl is not transformed into a star, but still finds her place close to the moon. (Honorable Mention by Jury for Animation & Effects, Script, Cinematography, Best Music and Inspiration.)

Secrets of the Pyramid of Djoser (Latvia) 93 min.
Latvian scientists, archaeologists, radar and photogrammetry specialists, architects, geologists, historians, computer programmers, and others alike banded together to create a unique technology for exploring archaeological sites. With their new techniques they made a sensational discovery in 2007. In the oldest stone building in the world, Egypt's Pyramid of Djoser, the Latvian scientific expedition discovered new underground rooms as well as a network of galleries. This new information has forced a re-evaluation of previous assumptions about the role and function of pyramids.  (Best Film by Jury; Honorable Mention by Jury for Narration, Best Animation & Effects, Public Education Value, Music and Inspiration.)

Twelve Canoes (Australila)66 min.
This artful film paints a compelling portrait of the people, history, culture, and place of the Yolngu people of the Arafura Swamp of north-central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Ramingining is an isolated town about 500 kilometers east of Darwin, within the Yolngu homeland. Set up by the government in 1972 to bring together the different peoples of the region, Ramingining consequently is a mixed settlement of primarily Yolngu people. Many are close to or on their traditional tribal lands, but others are some distance removed from them. The film makers decided upon twelve key subjects, each dealing with a particular aspect of Yolngu culture, place or history. These modules, poetic in nature with strong and sometimes ethereal imagery, are generally accompanied by words from different Ramingining storytellers.  (Honorable Mention by Jury for Animation & Effects, Public Education Value, Script, Cinematography and Music. Winner of Audience Favorite Competition.)

Samucha: The Last Journey of a Shepherd (Germany/France) 52 min.
Samucha lives in the mountains of Tusheti, a tiny region in Georgia on the border with Chechnya. He is a fabulous horse rider, a shepherd, a musician, a singer, and a storyteller. His name is legendary and he has led a tough existence, living mostly outdoors in the Caucasus Mountains against harsh weather conditions and sometimes dangerous wildlife. This year, as every springtime, Samucha migrates with his flock of 2,000 sheep to reach the high plains of the Caucasus. He feels tired and old and after this season it will finally be time for him to retire. He will spend the summer on the plateau accompanied by his two sons, David and Kwiria, to whom he will soon hand over his herd. Their time has come to become true Caucasian shepherds like their father and perpetuate the traditions of their ancestors.  (Special Mention by Jury for the Best Depiction of Cultural Heritage, Honorable Mention by jury in Best Film Competition, Narration and Music.  Honorable Mention in Audience Favorite Competition.)