This film by Iranian director Farhad Pakdel reflects on the intimate connections between today’s lives and the lives of those who have come before. From the present to the past, a young woman and her brother trace the history of their ancestors through traditional stone carving in Shiraz, Iran, in the center of the ancient Persian homeland. Their journey takes them to historic sites and monuments, including Persepolis and monuments to revered Iranian poets, as they pay homage to their father on the anniversary of his death.
Screening time: Sunday, May 6 at 5:05PM
Length: 19 min
Country: Iran
Language: Persian w/English Subtitles
Director: Farhad Pakdel
Producer: Davoud Samavati
Distributor: IRIB
Anderson Marsh State Historic Park is one of the most special places in all of California. Home of the Koi people, the first humans to colonize the area and still living there today, its majestic landscapes, diverse wildlife and history span 14,000 years, the longest continuous occupation of any territory in all of California. Their deep cultural heritage prompted the extraordinary events that led to the park’s creation and serves as a foundation for the current effort to protect the amazing resources the park holds. This documentary showcases their longevity, tragic removal and the fight to preserve their culture and land.
Screening time: Sunday, May 6 at 3:08PM
Length: 30 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Daniel Bruns
Producer: Brian Brazeal, Leslie Steidl, Greg White, Dino Beltran, John Parker, Darin Beltran, Drake Beltran
Producer Web site: http://www.csuchico.edu/alva
Distributor: Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology at CSU, Chico
Long before the Viking Age, Scandinavia already was settled. Its population descended from ancient Germanic peoples, with whom they shared the origins of their mythology, language and culture. The inhabitants of present-day Denmark, Sweden and Norway were trading and had contact with numerous surrounding countries and societies. In the 8th century the contact and the purpose of these expeditions changed, when the Vikings set sail in their clinker-built ships and sailed all over the world. Over a span of 300 years, they carried out raids, trade and migration all over Christian Europe and even more far-flung regions.
Screening time: Sunday, May 6 at 4:00PM
Length: 12 min
Country: Spain
Language: English, Spanish w/English Subtitles
Director: Gustavo Vilchez
Producer: Gustavo Vilchez
Producer Web site: http://www.marqalicante.com/
Distributor: Fundacion de la C.V. MARQ
This film contains footage of the last Salmon Ceremony carried out by the Upper Columbia Tribes (Coeur D’alene, Colville, Kalispel, Kootenai, Spokane tribes) in the states of Washington and Idaho before the Grand Coulee Dam flooded their traditional waterways and ceremonial fishing sites in 1940. This footage was then cut with more recent footage to create United by Water, a documentary about the Upper Columbia Tribes’ return to the waterways for the first time in 76 years by way of traditional handmade dugout canoes. This powerful short film is narrated by Sherman Alexie, Jr., who donated his time to the project and read his poem, “Powwow at the end of the world.”
Screening time:Saturday, May 5 at 5:58PM
Length: 61 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Derrick LaMere
Producer: Sherman Alexie
Distributor: Sherman Alexie
Historians believe one of the most tragic events in America's history of racial discrimination is the Tulsa race riot of 1921. More than 300 African Americans were killed and 126 houses were destroyed. For decades, until a commission report published in 1921, history books were nearly silent about this tragedy, one of the worse cases of racial violence in the history of the United States. This dramatization by Iranian film director Sayed Shojaei relates the event through the eyes of two boys, one white and one black.
Screening time: Saturday, May 5 at 10:10AM
Length: 9 min
Country: Iran
Language: No Dialog
Director: Parviz Shojaei
Producer: Sajjad Qafelebashi - Majid Mohammaddoust
Distributor: Sajjad Qafelebashi - Majid Mohammaddoust
This narrative follows a remarkable five year old girl named Janisha, who has dedicated her life to sustaining and preserving the forests that surround her, and her inspiring journey. She teaches the women and children within her village to live a more empowered, sustainable and aware life, highlighting what their actions will preserve and prevent from happening in their lives and for future generations to come. A very important universal message within To Wake is the recognition of women worldwide, their role as nurturer and protector of nature within society and in this case, the rest of the planet. This documentary has created a visual platform for facing critical problems concerning forest fires, species loss, climate change, pollution, and women’s and children’s rights.
Screening time: Friday, May 4 at 9:00PM
Length: 16 min
Country: South Africa
Language: Hindi w/English Subtitles
Director: Yakima Camille Waner
Producer: Yakima Camille Waner
Producer Web site: https://towakebuddhi.com
Distributor: Intent Conscious Media
Is the Book of Exodus based on real events? In a dramatic geologic event 3500 years ago, a huge volcanic eruption destroyed half the island of Santorini. That global catastrophe was possibly the cause of the Plagues of Egypt; they are mentioned on a mysterious inscription on a stone stela translated 50 years ago by Egyptologist Claude Vandersleyen. This is the starting point of a fascinating investigation which sheds new light on the history of Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, as well as upon parts of the Old Testament.
Screening time:
Length: 66 min.
Country: Belgium
Language: EN,FR,NI,DE w/English Subtitles
Director: Olivier Vandersleyen
Producer: Olivier Vandersleyen
Distributor: Olivier Vandersleyen
Distributor Web site: http://www.tempeststela.be
The art of making the Lanzhou Waterwheel in China was all but lost in the 21st century, until Duan Yicun, a 20th-generation descendent of Duan Xu, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, took it upon himself to study and learn the craft. Now 74 years old, Duan Yicun finds the waterwheel market chaotic and competitive. Looking to his apprentice and future generations to inherit the craft of waterwheel making, he is hopeful the tradition will continue and the quality standards of the Lanzhou Waterwheel will be upheld. Duan Yicun looks to the future, as the Yellow River has yet another role to play in the community of Lanzhou and China abroad.
Screening time: Sunday, May 6 at 1:00PM
Length: 12 min
Country: China
Language: Mandarin w/English Subtitles
Director: Jesse Pickett
Producer: Shirley Gu
Distributor: Shirley Gu
An international team of art restorers and archaeologists begin work on the restoration of medieval frescoes inside a network of ancient caves. Faced with local bureaucratic challenges and systemic neglect of archaeological sites, the team encounters a community of shepherds and migrants who have used the caves for centuries and discover a living culture worth preserving most of all. Located near Altamura, Italy, the Byzantine and Latin era frescoes range from 12th to 14th century, but the surrounding cave dwellings date back thousands of years earlier, and nearby Neanderthal remains have been found to be older than 130,000 years. The documentary chronicles the meticulous work of art restorers working on the frescoes, archaeologists exploring the network of caves, and shepherds and farmers in the surrounding countryside—locals, visitors, and migrants alike, their passions indivisible from one another.
Screening time: Friday, May 4 at 7:10PM
Length: 86 min.
Country: Canada
Language: Italian w/English Subtitles, English
Director: Anthony Grieco
Producer: Anthony Grieco
Distributor: Anthony Grieco
Distributor Web site: redmammothmedia.com
In a ceremony with much meaning to Shiite Muslims in Iran, but which has much more ancient origins, a group of traditional people in Shahrud, Semnan Province, perform their ablution a few hours before the start of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. They dip the reed pen into the saffron liquid and write seven verses from the holy Koran on the back of china bowls. They pen those verses, which are prefaced with regards, or good wishes, before the opening salvo of the New Year is fired. These regards represent the deep respect they display for their beliefs. Then they rinse the bowls into the water and bring the hallowed saffron liquid to a traditional table set with seven items whose names begin with the letter “S” in Farsi.
Screening time: Saturday, May 5 at 5:43PM
Length: 15 min
Country: Iran
Language: Persian w/English Subtitles
Director: Mehdi Yarmohamadi
Producer: Mehdi Yarmohamadi
Distributor: Mehdi Yarmohamadi
This is a short documentary about the forging of a Javanese Gamelan gong, highlighting the rhythmic nature of the methods employed by traditional gamelan makers, including the firing, molding and tuning of a new bronze instrument. Filmed on location in Pak Saroyo’s forge in the Sukoharjo Regency of Surakarta in central Java, the documentary focuses on the making of one of the 40-plus instruments in the set, revealing the musical nature of the forging process, from the rhythmic beating of red-hot metal to the dance-like quality of the Gong-smiths as they work in concert to bring a single gong to life.
Screening time: Sunday, May 6 at 10:10AM
Length: 7 min
Country: Ireland
Language: No dialogue
Director: Maurice Gunning
Producer: Mel Mercer
Distributor: Maurice Gunning
Distributor Web site: https://www.mauricegunning.com/