First Footprints tells how the Aboriginal people became the oldest living culture in the world. Across Australia are over 10 million prehistoric paintings, engravings and archaeological sites. The continent is one giant canvass telling an epic story of endurance in the face of terrifying megafauna, catastrophic droughts, rising sea levels, and massive climate shifts that caused both conflict and phenomenal cultural output over tens of thousands of years. For the first time new archaeological discoveries, stunning rock art and a wealth of never-before-seen archival footage and cinema-quality CGI reveal the epic story of 50,000 years of life in Australia.
Screening time: Saturday, 14 May, 2:37 pm (Session 4, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 53 min.
Country: Australia
Language: English
Producer: Martin Butler, Bentley Dean
Distributor: Contact Films
Awards/Selections:
None
The Antikythera Mechanism is one of the most extraordinary discoveries from the ancient Greek world: a 2000-year-old astronomical calculating machine of great complexity. It is now split into many corroded bronze fragments. Despite more than a hundred years of research since its discovery in 1901 by Greek sponge divers, many of its deepest secrets remained hidden—until they were uncovered by a brilliant team of X-ray engineers, combined with a new team of research scientists. Now, for the first time, we can delve deeper into the meaning and function of this extraordinary artifact and start to understand what it really is.
Screening time: Saturday, 14 May, 6:15 pm (Session 5, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 26 min.
Country: UK
Language: English
Director: Martin Freeth
Producer: Tony Freeth
Producer Web site: http://www.mfreeth.com/
Distributor: Images First LTD
Distributor Web site: http:/www.images-first.com
Awards/Selections:
Aired on German TV ARD-ALPHA, February 2015.
Cinarchea: International Archaeology Film and Art Festival, Kiel, Germany, October 2015.
Jova lives as a servant in Denmark in the year 1064. One day she finds out that her father was a renowned warrior who set out to the east shortly after her birth and did not come back. From then on, Jova has only one thing on her mind: finding her father. She escapes from servitude, dresses up like a man and hires a ship that sails to the land of the Rus. The story of Jova leads us deep inside the fundamentally changing society of the Vikings. Christianity’s influence gains prominence through exposure to different cultures via trading. But Christianization and the emerging kingdoms are both blessing and curse: they herald the destruction of Viking culture.
Screening time: Saturday, 14 May, 3:40 pm (Session 4, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 52 min.
Country: Germany
Language: English
Director: Kai Christiansen, Yoav Parish, Judith Voelker
Producer: Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion Hamburg GmbH & Co. KG
Producer Web site: http://www.gebrueder-beetz.de/
Distributor: GmbH
Distributor Web site: http://autentic.com/
Awards/Selections:
New York Festival’s World’s Best TV Films, Silver Medal, Best Docu-drama, December 2015.
For centuries, Stonehenge has remained an enigma. Now a team led by world-renowned archaeologist Professor Mike Parker Pearson has uncovered ancient bodies buried beneath Stonehenge. In this film, Mike’s team analyzes 63 of these individuals and reveals that they were part of a community of elite, aristocratic families who were cremated 5000 years ago. They have also discovered that feasting took place on a huge scale during mid-winter at Stonehenge. By investigating the teeth of 80,000 animal remains found nearby, they have proved that these animals were slaughtered nine months after their spring birth to celebrate and worship the winter solstice. These huge feasting celebrations attracted and unified people from all over Britain.
Screening time: Thursday, 12 May, 9:05 pm (Broadway Metro)
Length: 53 min.
Country: UK
Language: English
Director: Terra matter Factual Studios, Oxford Scientific Films
Producer: Terra matter Factual Studios, Oxford Scientific Films
Producer Web site: http://www.terramater.at/
Distributor: Terra matter Factual Studios, Oxford Scientific Films
Distributor Web site: http://www.terramater.at/
Awards/Selections:
None
How does Cambodia's most famous temple statue end up in Sotheby's auction catalogue? This film tells the story of a spectacular case of art robbery and international intrigue. From the sun and rain in Southeast Asia to the murky backrooms of art smugglers, we follow the route of an iconic warrior sculpture looted from a Khmer temple to a posh auction house in New York. Stolen Warriors is about more than a missing statue: it is an investigative journey into the morally compromised world of the antiques trade.
Screening time: Thursday, 12 May, 9:27 pm (Session 1, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 52 min.
Country: Germany
Language: German with English subtitles
Director: Wolfgang Luck
Producer: Wolfgang Luck
Distributor: Java Films Paris
Distributor Web site: http://www.javafilms.fr/
Awards/Selections:
International Film Festival Phnom Penh, Cambodia, December 2014.
Fifa: International Festival of Films on Art Montreal 2015.
Festival International du Film d'Archeologie de Nyon, Switzerland, March 2015.
inarchea: International Archaeology Film and Art Festival, Kiel, Germany, October 2015.
nternational Review of Archaeological Cinema, Rovereto, Italy, November 2015.
A band of rebels. An invisible army. A final stand. The siege of Masada is the Alamo of the ancient world. But did it really happen? Did 960 men, women and children really commit suicide rather than be made slaves of Rome? Join the Smithsonian Institution in an investigation into this inscrutable event that happened in our distant past. Using modern tools and cutting-edge technologies, we explore this 2000-year-old mystery to see the truth veiled by time—and it’s as compelling today as it has ever been!
Screening time: Thursday, 12 May, 8:11 pm (Session 1, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 51 min.
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Jason Williams
Producer: Jason Williams
Producer Web site: http://www.jwmprods.com
Distributor: Smithsonian Channel
Distributor Web site: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com
Awards/Selections:
Aired on the Smithsonian Channel, April 2015.
Rome served as the model for all the cities in its empire. City planners at the time used a standard model customized for the local setting. This documentary uses Tarraco, a medium-sized Roman city, to exemplify the fundamental factors were that affected how a new city was set up and how these decisions are reflected in the modern city built on top of it. Employing detailed and rigorous reconstructions of architecture and costume, the filmmakers reveal the ramparts, forums, the amphitheater, and the great Roman theater of Cartago Nova as living artifacts from a meticulously planned past.
Screening time: Sunday, 15 May, 4:15 pm (Session 8, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 51 min.
Country: Spain
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Jose Antonio Muniz
Producer: Jose Antonio Muniz
Producer Web site: http://www.e-digivision.net/
Distributor: ONZA Partners
Distributor Web site: http://onzapartners.com/
Awards/Selections:
International Archaeological Film Festival of the Bidasoa, Irun, Spain, November 2015.
The Machine—that was the name given to the raft of the Medusa by those whose sorry task was to build and launch it at the height of the storm. One hundred forty-eight sailors and one woman, willingly or not, were heaped aboard this makeshift craft. Seven were to survive. Many people know Gericault's magnificent and frightening painting, but who knows the real story that lies behind it? Using a double investigation—one contemporary, carried out by a passionate historian, and one from the past, carried out by Gericault for the creation of his work—The Real Story of the Raft of the Medusa invites the viewer on a voyage to rediscover piece by piece this astonishing page in French colonial and maritime history. “The Raft of the Medusa” is not only a painting. On the eve of its 200th anniversary, it's time to shine the full light of understanding on it.
Screening time: Sunday, 15 May, 5:17 pm (Session 8, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 89 min.
Country: France
Language: English
Director: Herle Jouon
Producer: Guillaume Peres\ Grand Angle productions and Arte France
Producer Web site: http://www.grandangle.com/
Distributor: GAD
Awards/Selections:
Awarded Best Scenario, IFFWATER Festival, Begles, France.
The enduring icon of the Eternal City for the last 2000 years, the Colosseum was ancient Rome’s architectural masterwork. Its graceful and harmonious proportions concealed a highly efficient design, advanced construction methods and state-of-the-art plumbing and sewage. But the Colosseum was also a mighty monument to Roman imperial power and cruelty. The spectacles staged there involved the killing of tens of thousands of gladiators, slaves, prisoners, and wild animals. Join us as we explore the dual nature of this glorious ruin that so closely tracks the genius and cruelty of the Romans.
Screening time: Friday, 13 May, 7:10 pm (Session 2, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 42 min.
Country: France and USA
Language: English
Director: Pascal Cuissot
Producer: Valerie Abita
Distributor: ZED
Distributor Web site: http://www.zed.fr
Awards/Selections:
None
Located in the middle of one of the driest places on earth, the civilization of Petra left behind spectacular monuments carved into the sandstone cliffs. We now know that a prosperous and cultivated city of nearly 30,000 people stretched out from the base of the mountains and that water was abundant. Petra, the capital of the Nabataean kingdom built more than 2000 years ago, is the paradoxical work of desert nomads. Another large site located 500 kilometers away in Saudi Arabia has similar rock-cut monuments. This history of Petra, as well as that of the people who built and lived there for nearly 800 years, is gradually emerging from the sand.
Screening time: Saturday, 14 May, 4:45 pm (Session 5, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 86 min.
Country: France and USA
Language: English
Director: Oliver Julien
Producer: Valerie Abita
Distributor: ZED
Distributor Web site: http://www.zed.fr
Awards/Selections:
None
During the Bronze and Iron ages, society became increasingly specialized, with differences between rich and poor growing more pronounced. For the first time ever, weapons were forged that were intended primarily for combat with other humans. Trade flourished, and in the Burgenland region in eastern Austria, swords were found that either were copies of Greek rapiers or were supplied directly from Mycenae. In Metal Ages or The Hierarchization of Society, we see the history of trade and social development in this region while learning about important advances in archaeological methodology that still are in use today.
Screening time: Saturday, 14 May, 12:32 pm (Session 3, The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 43 min.
Country: Austria
Language: German with English subtitles
Director: Petrus Van der Let
Producer: Petrus Van der Let
Producer Web site: http://members.aon.at/vanderlet/english/metal.htm
Distributor: Petrus Van der Let
Distributor Web site: http://members.aon.at/vanderlet/english/metal.htm
Awards/Selections:
International Festival of Archaeological Films, Belgrade, March 2015.
International Review of Archaeological Cinema, Rovereto, Italy, November 2015.
MEDIMED, Sitges, Spain October 2015.