TAC Fest 2013 Pages
 |
 |
A remote, bleak speck of rock in the middle of the Pacific, Easter island has mystified the world ever since the first Europeans arrived in 1722. How and why did the ancient islanders build and move nearly 900 giant statues weighing up to 86 tons? And how did they transform a presumed paradise into a treeless wasteland, bringing ruin upon their island and themselves? NOVA explores controversial recent claims that challenge decades of previous thinking about the islanders, who have been accused of everything from ecocide to cannibalism. Among the radical new ideas is that the islanders used ropes to “walk” the statues upright, like moving a fridge. With the help of a 15-ton replica statue, a NOVA team sets out to test this seemingly unlikely notion in this fresh investigation of one of the ancient world’s most intriguing enigmas.
VIEW SHORT VIDEO CLIP:
Length: 57 min.
Country: US
Language: English
Director: Andy Awes
Producer: NOVA and National Geographic Television
Producer Web site: www.pbs.org
Distributor: National Geographic Channel International Distribution
Distributor Web site: www.natgeotv-int.comAwards/Selections:
N/A
|
 |
Most of us drive by cemeteries every day without giving them a second thought. But without an appreciation of our cemeteries, we disconnect ourselves, historically and culturally, from our communities and ultimately from our society as a whole. Filmed over two years, the Silent Storytellers documentary follows individuals across the state of Arkansas as they bring awareness to preserving deteriorating cemeteries, many of them in remote, quite places, and putting the monuments that were made for these people back together again. In the process they demonstrate how cemeteries can tell remarkably personal stories about people long past.
VIEW SHORT VIDEO CLIP:
Length: 79 min.
Country: US
Language: English
Director: Hop Litzwire
Producer: Casey Sanders
Producer Web site: www.aetn.org/silentstorytellers
Distributor: Arkansas Educational Television Network
Distributor Web site: www.aetn.org/silentstorytellers
Awards/Selections:
Aired on Arkansas Statewide TV
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Little Rock Film Festival
|
 |
Malaysia’s archaeological heritage stretches back more than a million years. This ancient culture has attracted world attention in exhibitions abroad and in the media for the last two decades. Sites all over the country have revealed their ancient secrets, providing important evidence on Malaysia’s earliest habitation sites. This documentary explores Malaysia’s most important sites and their link to the rest of the world. It showcases Southeast Asia’s oldest nearly complete Paleolithic human skeleton, the iconic Perak Man, whose discovery also has caught the attention of medical archaeology as probably the earliest example of a congenital deformity. It also demonstrates how Malaysia has been connected over thousands of miles and thousands of years with other cultures in south and east Asia and the Pacific.
VIEW SHORT VIDEO CLIP:
Length: 46 min.
Country: Malaysia
Language: English
Director: Harun Rahman
Producer: Novista Sdn. Bhd
Producer Web site: www.novista.tv
Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysia
Distributor Web site: http://www.finas.gov.my/index.phpAwards/Selections:
N/A
|
 |
This amusing docu-drama tells the story of Cotos, a noble Gallic warrior living on his farm in the land of Eduens, what is now Central Burgundy. This is the time before the Roman invasion of Gaul. Cotos is going to the neighboring city of Bibracte to participate in an important vote and establish his son as a genuine warrior. Accompanied by Bus, the spear bearer, and Desprogiagos, the shield bearer, Cotos heads off on his journey, led by a mysterious and confusing voice that happens to be the documentary narrator.
Length: 16 min.
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitles
Director: Pénélope de Bozzi and Matthieu Lemarié
Producer: Universcience Pubic Establishment of the Palace of Discovery and the City of Sciences and Industry
Producer Web site: www.universcience.fr
Distributor: Universcience Pubic Establishment of the Palace of Discovery and the City of Sciences and Industry
Distributor Web site: www.universcience.fr
Awards/Selections:
The film has been produced and screened for the exhibition about Gaul in la “Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie” in Paris, la Villette, 2011-2012
|
 |
The history of the Arslantepe (the Hill of Lions) archaeological site, located in Malatya, eastern Anatolia, dates back to the 5th millennium B.C. An Italian archaeological expedition, led by Professor Marcella Frangipane, has been excavating here for over thirty years, bringing to light important finds symbolizing the universality of Anatolian cultures. Beginning with the lion that symbolizes Arslantepe, this documentary film narrates the changes, transformations and discoveries that have taken place over the course of recent years and also the excitement on the part of both archaeologists and their local helpers over the new excavations being inaugurated in the western part of the site. Professor Frangipane accompanies us during this journey back through history, from Istanbul to Cappadocia and eastern Anatolia, all the way to the Euphrates River and the neighboring territories that shelter the remains of recently discovered Neolithic villages.
VIEW SHORT VIDEO CLIP:
Length: 57 min.
Country: Italy
Language: Italian with English Subtitles
Director: Isabella Astengo
Producer: Rai Educational and Duna International Film
Producer Web site: www.arte.rai.it
Distributor: Duna International Film
Distributor Web site: www.arte.rai.itAwards/Selections:
European Environment Festival “Green Wave - 21st Century” (Kurdjali, Bulgaria, 27-29 September 2012)
