Over the past century, cultural destruction has brought catastrophic results across the globe. This war against culture is not over - it's been steadily increasing. In Syria and Iraq, the “cradle of civilization,” millennia of culture are being destroyed. The push to protect, salvage and rebuild has moved in step with the destruction. Legislation and policy have played a role, but heroic individuals have fought back, risking and losing their lives to protect not just other human beings, but our cultural identity - to save the record of who we are. Based on the book of the same name by Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory tells the whole story - looking not just at the ongoing actions of Daesh (ISIS) and at other contemporary situations, but revealing the decisions of the past that allowed the issue to remain hidden in the shadows for so many years.
Screening time: Thursday, May 4, 7:20 pm, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 85 min.
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Tim Slade
Producer: Tim Slade
Producer Web site: http://destructionofmemoryfilm.com/projects
Distributor: Autlook Filmsales
Distributor Web site: http://www.autlookfilms.com/
Awards/Selections:
Arquiteturas Film Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
From the concept of a hunting lodge envisioned by young Francis the First to the masterpiece conceived by an aging Leonardo da Vinci and launched by the noble monarch, this film is an uplifting inquiry on the mysteries of Chambord Castle. These mysteries have remained unsolved for nearly 500 years. Will they finally be solved? Chambord Castle is among the most renowned castles in France’s Loire Valley and unlike any other castle. Until now, very little has been known about its origins and the significance of its curious architecture. Did Leonardo da Vinci, who was required by Francis the First to settle in the region, take part in its conception? What is the meaning of the multiple symbols hidden in its sculptures? Through cutting-edge technologies and new archaeological digs, scientists for several years have been conducting a thrilling investigation.
Screening time: Thursday, May 4, 8:58 pm, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 50 min.
Country: France
Language: English
Director: Marc Jampolsky
Producer: Stéphane Milliere, Gedeon Programmes
Producer Web site: http://www.gedeonprogrammes.com/en/
Distributor: Terranoa
Distributor Web site: http://www.terranoa.com/product/product.php?code=1857
Awards/Selections:
ICRONOS: International Festival of Archaeological Film, Bordeaux, France
Thanks to the wonderful children’s song taught in schools throughout the world, hundreds of millions of people have, somewhere hidden in their mind, a Pont d’Avignon. This is a very singular bridge where people dance as they like, a bridge intimately linked to childhood. However, its image remains vague. This monument, one of the most famous in the world, is in fact very intriguing: huge fortified walls which could belong to fairy tales, overlooked by an abrupt rock, one of its piers supporting a strange chapel… but most of all, a bridge that stops right in the middle, like a cliff over a river. Questions urgently arise: what happened to the bridge which haunted my youth? Why is there so little left? Where did it lead to? And what did it look like in all its glory?
Screening time: Saturday, May 6, 4:49 pm, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 18 min.
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitles
Director: Henri-Louis Poirier
Producer: Bertrand Abadie
Producer Web site: n/a
Distributor: Py Films
Distributor Web site: www.py-films.fr
Awards/Selections:
International Archaeology Film Festival (Split, Croatia) – (november 2016)
International Festival of Archaeological Film, Bordeaux, France- (october 2016)
Archaeological researchers can further their knowledge of a major historical site such as St. Michel de Cuxa in more than one way. When this story began, over 1000 years ago, neither France nor Spain existed as we know them. There was just Europe, violent, fragmented, the legacy of the Carolingian era. And here, in what is now southern France, was the Têt valley and, not far away, the Episcopal see of Elne, close to modern Perpignan. In this film, researchers digitize the entire building, using drones and scanners, to recreate in 3D certain aspects of the abbey that now are lost. Scientists examine the subsoil using radar, seeking cavities and buried foundations. And historians suggest alternative arrangements for sculpted fragments. They all have been working together for nearly five years to recreate, on screen, the successive abbeys predating the one in which you can stand today.
Screening time: Saturday, May 6, 4:00 pm, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 22 min.
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitle
Director: Henri-Louis Poirier
Producer: Bertrand Abadie
Producer Web site: www.py-films.fr
Distributor: Py Films
Distributor Web site: www.py-films.fr
Awards/Selections:
International Archaeology Film Festival, Split, Croatia, November 2016
ICRONOS: International Festival of Archaeological Film, Bordeaux, France, October 2016
Produced between 2013 and 2016, this film is primarily about the daily lives and traditions of the Turkic Alevi woodmen. The woodmen are a group of Turkmen occupied with timber harvesting and living in the mountainous region close to the western and southern shores of Turkey. A large number of Turkic woodmen continue their livelihood in these locations. In this mountainous region, the woodmen make their livelihood through forestry and struggle with the limited possibilities provided in this isolated region, while at the same time upholding their traditions. Although the historical sources are not definite, they have lived in this region for centuries, at least since Ottoman times. The film not only documents the woodmen’s traditional events, but also acts as a witness to the traditional prayer read during funerals
Screening time: Sunday, 7 May, 6:30 pm pm (The Shedd Recital Hall)
Length: 20 min.
Country: Turkey
Language: Turkish with English subtitles
Director: Elif Erturk
Producer: Elif Erturk
Producer Web site: n/a
Distributor: Elif Erturk
Distributor Web site: n/a
Awards/Selections:
Adana Ahin Koza Film Festival, Competition section finalist, documentary section, 2016