We invite you to submit entries now for the 2009 edition of The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival. This is the only international competition for this genre in the entire Western Hemisphere and a wonderful showcase for your work. Our deadline for receipt of entries is October 15, 2008. TAC Festival 2009 takes place May 19-23, 2009, in the Soreng Theater of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts here in Eugene, Oregon, USA. To enter, please use our entry form with the Festival entry guidelines.

Please read the guidelines carefully. We require entries with signatures, which may be sent through the regular postal mail or as electronic (signed) copies, via e-mail (either in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF) or fax.

For TAC Festival 2008, we received 81 entries from 17 countries and selected 18 to screen in the Soreng Theater. We also made all entries available for viewing at individual viewing stations through our Video Bar. By all measures, this was our best group of films in the history of TAC Festival, which began in 2003. In this coming year, we hope to continue the trend toward ever-improving film quality. We also have changed our guidelines to include provision for High Definition entries on Blu-ray discs. We look forward to the opportunity to show HD films to our Festival audience.

Here are some important facts about our entry regulations and procedures:

We rely on you for information about the film. So please be very careful to enter the correct film title as well as the correct information for crediting the film makers.

We accept all entries, regardless of the topic. Be advised, however, that if your topic does not relate to the human cultural heritage or the human past or the investigation of such subjects, it will be at a serious disadvantage in the competition.

We can accept a variety of formats for entries. We accept both PAL and NTSC. We accept VHS tapes, DVDs, mini-DV tapes, and even Blu-ray discs. But please make sure that your mini-DV tapes are in the DV standard and not DVCAM. We do not use Betacam-SP.

To be fair to smaller producers, we have a limit of two entries per producer. By “producer” we mean the person or group of persons who directly made the film. However, it is perfectly acceptable for a distribution company to submit films from two or three or more different producers, as long as these producers are separately identified and credited.

Entrant distributors must provide assurance through their signature that the producers of the entered films have agreed to their entry in TAC Festival.

Films must have been produced in 2002 or later.

You must complete the Film Summary and Film History sections.

If you want your review copy returned, you must provided a mailing envelope with correct postage affixed to it.

If your film is selected for screening, we will ask you comply with our standard for screener copies, which is mini-DV in DV (not DVCAM) format, or a Blu-ray disc for HD.

If you are interested in making your film available for sale to our Festival audience, please inform us of that and let us know the purchase procedures. If you would like us to assist you in making your film available for sale, please contact us so we can discuss ways to accomplish that.

Please do not delay in sending your entries! Consider that a flood of entries in the last week will slow down our review and notification process, so you can help us a great deal by sending your entries now. In previous years, some entries regrettably were rejected because of errors in entry forms or problems with the film review copies. If you allow plenty of time for these problems to be resolved, you can help assure that you will not be excluded from consideration. Also, we encourage you to make plans to attend the Festival to represent your films and also to participate in our Symposium on Heritage Film.