Mohammad Wali Gandami is the last miller who knows the techniques of building and repairing traditional Iranian windmills. At the age of 68, he is still responsible for the maintenance of windmills in the city of Nashtifan, which have been submitted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but remain unrecognized. For many years, Mohammad Wali Gandami alone has been protecting the historical heritage of his people and his predecessors. Wind’s Heritage brings attention to the importance of preserving this cultural heritage and the need to recognize the contributions of those who have dedicated their lives to this cause.
Screening: Sunday, May 17th, 4:12-4:43 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 30 min
Country: Iran
Language: Persian
Director(s): Nasim Soheili
Producer(s): Nasim Soheili
Distributor: Nasim Soheili
The Kavalan people, an Indigenous group from Taiwan’s eastern coast, have endured a long history of displacement. For decades, they were officially classified under “Other Indigenous Groups” by the government. After years of persistent advocacy, the Kavalan regained their official recognition in late 2002—a milestone that marked not only the restoration of their name but also the revival of their nearly lost craft: banana fiber weaving. This documentary focuses on the stories of members of the Lala Ban Banana Fiber Workshop in Xinshe, and explores the unique weaving traditions of the Kavalan people. Beginning with the tribe’s historical background, the film takes viewers into the workshop’s daily life, examining the challenges of cultural transmission, the difficulties in marketing handmade goods, and broader issues of cultural preservation and community employment.
Screening: Friday, May 15th, 7:06-7:30 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 23 min
Country: Taiwan
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Director(s): Will Wen-jeng Chen
Producer(s): The General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC)
Distributor: Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV)
In 2013, Italian engineer Guido Gay discovered an ancient shipwreck between Corsica and Italy at a depth of 360 meters. While the cargo was initially thought to be ballast stone, it soon became clear that the ship was delivering tons of glass in varying degrees of workmanship. This remarkable discovery—only the second of its kind—prompts the formation of a Franco-Italian archaeological team to investigate the wreck's cargo—known as the “Capo Corso 2"—onboard the Alfred Merlin. This film explores the significance of glass in Ancient Rome through the team’s deep-sea archaeological research, and how the development and dissemination of glassmaking methods changed human civilization forever.
Screening: Friday, May 15th, 9:05-9:58 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 53 min
Country: Italy
Language: English, French, Italian
Director(s): Marcello Adamo
Producer(s): Marcello Adamo, Filmare Entertainment, GA&A Productions
Distributor: Gioia Avvantaggiato
The humble “Cinderella of the Vineyard” was forgotten until the prince made her a queen. The real story of the Greek grape variety Malagousiá is like a fairytale woven from the taste of its grapes and the rhythm of a waltz. Shot at the Gerovassiliou Estate in Epanomi, outside Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, A Vineyard Cinderella explores the cultivation of the Malagousiá and the history of the vineyard, founded in 1981 by oenologist Vangelis Gerovassiliou.
Screening: Sunday, May 17th, 2:40-2:51 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 10 min
Country: Greece
Language: Greek
Director(s): Vassilis Loules
Producer(s): Vassilis Loules, gr2me
Distributor: Vassilis Loules
To the average person, vegetarianism appears to be a very contemporary phenomenon. However, it has a long and little-known history, with origins from places around the globe. This documentary recounts this lifestyle’s roots, from the Jains of India to the hippies of the ‘60s, from Roman philosophers to Japanese Buddhist monks, from the Cathars to London’s first Vegetarian Society in 1847. This is an odyssey fraught with conflict and even persecution, embodied by great universal figures who, through their diet, challenged pre-existing ideas of humanity’s place in the world.
Screening: Saturday, May 16th, 9:50 AM -11:20 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 39 min
Country: France
Language: French
Director(s): Martin Blanchard
Producer(s): Martin Blanchard, O2B Films
Distributor: Arte, Lucky You
Draped over a rocky escarpment in southern Ohio, Serpent Mound is the largest effigy mound in the world. After more than a century and a half of exploration, excavation and archaeological study, the elusive story is adding a new chapter. Advanced geophysical tools allow us to see how Serpent Mound's earth-architects revised their original plan. Overlooked for decades while hiding in plain sight, Serpent Mound's astronomical alignments offer a look into the minds of its ancient builders. Just who they were remains unknown, but modern sensing tools and archaeological techniques are explaining at least some of the haunting “secrets of the serpent.”
Screening: Sunday, May 17th, 10:06-10:37 AM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 30 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Director(s): Gray Newton Warriner
Producer(s): Gray Newton Warriner
Distributor: Camera One
Army of Lovers brings to light the lost story of the Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite force of 150 pairs of male lovers who became the most formidable warriors of the ancient world. Through the stylized, animated lens of ancient Thebes, this film tells of a fictionalized young boy who grows up to join the Sacred Band and dies in battle beside his lover. Reconstructed scenes illustrate the narrative of Panagiotis Stamatakis, the Greek archaeologist who first unearthed the mass grave of the Sacred Band, but died before he could publish his findings. Their story resurfaces as archaeologists discover long-buried evidence, revealing a forgotten chapter of love, war and the fight for freedom.
Screening: Thursday, May 14th, 7:37-8:32 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 54 min
Country: Greece
Language: English, French, German, Greek
Director(s): Lefteris Charitos
Producer(s): Rea Apostolides
Distributor: Anemon Productions
Deep within Peru’s Río Abiseo National Park—a UNESCO Mixed World Heritage Site—an interdisciplinary team of scientists and conservationists embark on a unique journey to the Historic-Cultural Zone 1 to investigate, document and protect the archaeological site of Gran Pajatén, a cultural legacy of the Chachapoya. Abiseo: Cultural Forest of the Chachapoya closely follows a remarkable conservation and research project in one of the most remote and extraordinary landscapes in Peru. The film explores the natural and archaeological richness of the Río Abiseo National Park and the legacy of the little-known Chachapoya culture, as well as the people behind the work — scientists, conservationists and collaborators deeply committed to preserving these traces of humanity.
Screening: Saturday, May 16th, 1:13-1:36 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 22 min
Country: Peru
Language: Spanish
Director(s): Rosemarie Lerner
Producer(s): Rosemarie Lerner, World Monuments Fund Perú
Distributor: World Monuments Fund Perú