TAC Fest 2012 Pages
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To the Navajo people of the American Southwest, “sheep is life.” The Navajo-Churro sheep is the original breed, which has sustained the Navajo, Pueblo, and Hispanic People for 400 years. On the verge of extinction a generation ago, the Navajo-Churro is making a comeback to the Navajo people. The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity recognizes the breed as a culturally and genetically important animal, worthy of international recognition. This film offers a portrait of rarely seen traditional Navajo lifeways and sustainable herding practices in the remote Arizona-New Mexico homeland.
Length: 30 min.
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Peter Blystone and Margaret Chanler
Producer: Peter Blystone and Margaret Chanler
Producer Website: N/A
Distributor: Blystone Films
Distributor Web site: N/A
Festival Screenings and Awards:
Sabores Sin Fronteras Conference, Tucson, AZ; Navajo Churro Sheep Association, Blanding, Utah; Sheep is Life, Farmington, NM; Slow Food on Film Festival, Bologna, Italy; Sedona Native American Film Festival, Sedona, AZ; Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival, CA; Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival, Flagstaff, AZ; Flagstaff Food Film Festival, Northern Arizona University, AZ.
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The Hobbit Enigma examines one of the greatest controversies in science today: what did scientists find when they uncovered the tiny, human-like skeleton of a strange creature, known to many as the Hobbit, on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003? Are the bones a previously unknown and bizarre primitive species of human? The Hobbit discovery forces us to rethink some of the most fundamental questions of human origins. With exclusive access to ongoing interdisciplinary research and new fieldwork
Length: 52 min.
Country: Australia
Language: English
Director: Chris Hilton
Producer: Chris Hilton, Essential Media
Producer Website: http://www.essential-media.com
Distributor: Essential Media
Distributor Web site: http://www.essential-media.com
Festival Screenings and Awards:
Finalist, Scinema Film Festival, 2010; Participant, International Archaeological Film Festival, 2010; Special Audience Prize, 10th International Archaeological Film Festival of the Bidasa, Irun, Spain.
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An experimental film, Ikwé is the re-imagination of the generational conversation and passage of traditional knowledge between a woman and her grandmother moon. The film weaves the narrative of one woman’s (Ikwé’s) intimate thoughts, spoken in French, with the teachings of her grandmother, the Moon, spoken in Cree, recreating a surreal narrative experience that communicates the power of thoughts and personal reflection. It inspires the question: what is the place of traditional knowledge in the life of the 21st Century?
Length: 5 min.
Country: Canada
Language: French and Cree with English subtitles
Director: Caroline Monnet
Producer: Caroline Monnet
Producer Website: N/A
Distributor: Monica Lowe, Winnipeg Film Group
Distributor Web site: http://www.winnipegfilmgroup.com
Festival Screenings and Awards:
Montreal First People’s Festival 2009, Montreal, QC; Toronto International Film Festival, ON, 2009; Vancouver International Film Festival, BC, 2009; Festival du nouveau cinema, Montreal, QC, 2009; WNDX Festival, Winnipeg, MB, 2009; imagineNATIVE Film+Media Arts Festival, Toronto, ON, 2009; Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, MB, 2009; Festival du cinema international en Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, QB, 2009; Indigenous Skabmagovat Film Festival, Helsinki, Finland, 2010; Le Rendez-vous du Cinema Quebecois, Quebec, 2010; Festival Regard sur le Court Metrage au Saguenay, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, QC, 2010; Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, Austin, TX, 2010; Gimli Film Festival, MB, 2010; Festival International du cinema francophone an Acadie, Moncton, NB, 2010; Regent Park Film Festival, Toronto, ON, 2010; American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco, CA, 2010 mispon, Regina, SK, 2010; Best Experimental Film, Native American Indian Festival of the Southeast, Columbia, SC, 2010; Vancouver Women’s International Film Festival 201, BC, 2011
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This short film is a short introduction (and a spoof!) to the new field of “contemporary archaeology.” Dr. Brooklyn Honswoggle-Smythe, Buckinghamshire New University’s youngest and most brilliant Contemporologist, guides you through the ins and outs and back-ins of the world of contemporary archaeology—the new subject everyone’s talking about! Did you know archaeologists could laugh about themselves? Or should this gibe at the modern theoretitician be taken seriously at some level?
Length: 8 min.
Country: UK
Language: English
Director: Rhodri Davies, Ros Evans, and Chandrachoodan Gopalakaishnan
Producer: Rhodri Davies, Ros Evans, and Chandrachoodan Gopalakaishnan
Producer Website: N/A
Distributor: Rhodri Davies, Ros Evans, and Chandrachoodan Gopalakaishnan
Distributor Web site: N/A
Festival Screenings and Awards:
N/A
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In the cool of Khuzestan province, Iran, an old shepherd tends his herd. “I was neither a good husband for my wife or a good father for my children,” admits Baliti. But he is a conscientious guard. He has made it his life’s mission to protect the ancient engravings at Koul Farah, an ancient heritage site. This Elamite temple comprises six engravings depicting religious ceremonies and scenes of sacrifice dating back some 3000 years. Living alone in an isolated gorge, Baliti is guarding them with his rifle for the nation, even though he feels the nation doesn’t appreciate it. But he clearly remembers who does value Koul Farah’s worth: the esteemed Mr. Roman Grishman, a French archaeologist who made a big impression on Baliti forty years ago and whose visit he still discusses with the sheep in his care, or any visitor who cares to listen.
Length: 42 min
Country: Iran
Language: Farsi with English subtitles
Director: Mahvash Sheykholeslami
Producer: Documentary and Experimental Film
Producer Website: http://www.defc.ir/en/index.php
Distributor: Documentary and Experimental Film
Distributor Web site: http://www.defc.ir/en/index.php
Festival Screenings and Awards:
N/A
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Libya is an ancient giant: at times aggressive, indomitable, impetuous, and then suddenly friendly, yielding, generous and yet again unpredictable and impertinent. This film takes you on a journey of fascination and emotion to the many worlds of this huge and mysterious country. Libya is like a dream, encapsulating history between desert and sky. On your dream voyage, you witness the Tadrat Akakus; Messak Settafet; Garama, the ancient capital of the Garamantes; old Ghat, a jewel of the great Libyan Jamahiriya, the glory of Leptis Magna, the wonder of the Sabratha. Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Length: 14 min.
Country: Italy
Language: English
Director: Lucio Rosa
Producer: Studio Film TV
Producer Website: http://www.studiofilmtv.it
Distributor: Studio Film TV
Distributor Web site: http://www.studiofilmtv.it
Festival Screenings and Awards:
International Review of Archaeological Cinema, Rovereto, Italy, 2011.
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This is the story of a Great Lord of the Moche culture, who was buried with honors so that his message would endure in time, and an archaeologist named Walter Alva, who rescued this Lord from his tomb to fulfill his ancient plan. The Moche culture developed on the northern coast of Peru between 100 BC and AD 400. It is a mysterious culture that disappeared shortly after reaching its peak. Today, everyone has heard of the Moche, thanks to the discoveries made during the last two decades. The discoveries continue, and the splendor of this unique civilization still surprises the world.
Length: 52 min.
Country: Spain
Language: English
Director: Oscar Portillo
Producer: Oscar Portillo, Explora Films
Producer Website: http://www.explorafilms.com
Distributor: Oscar Portillo, Explora Films
Distributor Web site: http://www.explorafilms.com
Festival Screenings and Awards:
Finalist, Festival de Cine y Patrimonio de Murda, Spain, 2009; Finalist, 80th Festival Internacional de Cine Arqueologico de Brussels, Belgium, 2009; Finalist, IX International Festival of Archaeological Cinema of Bidosaoa, 2009; Finalist, XXIV International Festival of Archaeological Film, Italy, 2011.
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For over sixty years, Cecile St. Amant has been keeping a deep secret: she is Métis (Canadian aboriginal group of mixed First Nations and European heritage). Cecile’s granddaughter, Janelle, sets out to understand her Mémère’s (grandmother’s) denial and playfully plots her own mission to open her Mémère’s eyes to the richness of her heritage. Janelle soon realizes that her Mémère will not be easily convinced that being Métis is something to be proud of. In this heart-warming and extraordinary journey, Janelle’s mischievous and persistent prodding of her grandmother reveals a generation’s legacy of shame and the profound courage of the human spirit to overcome it.
Length: 30 min.
Country: Canada
Language: English and French with English Subtitles
Director: Arlea Arhcroft
Producer: Janelle Wookey
Producer Website: N/A
Distributor: Monica Lowe, Winnipeg Film Group
Distributor Web site: http://www.winnipegfilmgroup.com
Festival Screenings and Awards:
Cynthia-Lickers Sage Award for Emerging Talent, imagineNATIVE, Toronto, ON, 2008; Best New Talent, Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, Winnipeg, MB, 2008; Recontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal, Quebec, 2008; North American Indigenous Film and Video Festival, Smithsonian, NYC, 2009; Shutter 2 Think, Terrace, BC, 2009; Palm Springs Festival of Native Film and Culture, CA, 2009; DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver, BC, 2009; Planet IndigenUS, Toronto, ON, 2009; Planète Honnête Festival, Sudbury, ON, 2009; Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth, Vancouver, BC, 2010; Regent Park Film Festival, Toronto, ON, 2010; Voices&Views Film Festival, Belleville, ON, 2011.
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UNESCO developed the cartoon series, Patrimonito's World Heritage Adventures, in 2002 as part of the celebrations for the 30th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. In an international competition launched that year, young people prepared storyboards on World Heritage sites in their countries. Prize-winning storyboards were professionally animated and produced. In this episode, Patrimonito, helped by children, shows how to efficiently preserve world heritage in the old town of Avila, Spain. His lesson is this: the first step for protecting our heritage is to know it.
Length: 5 min.
Country: France
Language: English (French and Spanish also available)
Director: Patrick Volve and Eloi Henroid
Producer: Jeremey Rochigneux, Metronomic
Producer Website: http://www.metronomic.fr
Distributor: N/A
Distributor Web site: N/A
Festival Screenings and Awards:
International Review of Archaeological Cinema, Rovereto, Italy, 2011; various screenings at UNESCO events.
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At sunset in the streets of the ancient town, the musical clubs of Zanzibar,on the east coast of Africa buzz with the joyful sounds of Taarab, the music of Zanzibar, whose style reflects two millennia of cultural exchange and the island’s place at the crossroads of the spice route. A vehicle of cultural identity and living tradition, the performance of Taarab is intrinsically linked to both the ceremonial and everyday life of the island. This artfully filmed documentary immerses us in the color, warmth, and diversity of Zanzibar’s little known Muslim culture and the Taarab poets.
Length: 85 min.
Country: France
Language: Swahili with English subtitles
Director: Philippe Gasnier and Patrice Nezan
Producer: Les Films du Present
Producer Website: http://www.lesfilmspresent.com
Distributor: Les Films du Present
Distributor Web site: http://www.lesfilmspresent.com
Festival Screenings and Awards:
N/A