ARCHAEOLOGY FILM FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND IN EUGENE

ArchaeologyFest Film Series: Best of 2010 A benefit for The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival Portland State University’s 5th Avenue Cinema 510 SW Hall Blvd. January 21/22, 2011 Doors open at 7 pm and programs begin at 7:30 pm on dates indicated.  Admission $6.  Tickets at the door.  These are the best films from the 2010 edition of TAC Festival.  (The 2011 edition of TAC Festival takes place in the Recital Hall at The Shedd Institute in downtown Eugene, May 24-28) Friday, January 21 • Standing with Stones (UK) 135 min.  Produced and directed by documentary film-maker Michael Bott and presented by naturalist and explorer Rupert Soskin, this is a first-hand account from Rupert of a journey taken through the British Isles and Ireland, starting at the tip of Cornwall and ending on the Scottish Isles, visiting more than 100 Neolithic and Bronze age monuments en route.  Beautiful to look at and aiming to be enlightening, the film explores the diversity and wonder of these extraordinary enigmatic structures.  It also looks at some of the explanations and absurdities which attach to them.  Rupert Soskin has a deep knowledge of the subject, but also a refreshingly open-minded attitude to the whos, the hows and especially the whys of the stone construction.  The entire project was conceived and realized entirely by Michael Bott and Rupert Soskin, with a camera, a camper van, two very understanding wives, and a passion for stones. (Best Narration by Jury; Most Inspirational by Jury; Honorable Mention in the Audience Favorite competition; Honorable Mention by Jury in the Best Film competition, Animation, Script, and Music) Saturday, January 22 • Herculaneum: Diaries of Darkness and Light (Italy) 52 min.   This film tells the story of the excavations at Herculaneum, following Amedeo Maiuri, the archaeologist who in little more than 30 years brought to light the Roman city, which had been destroyed along with Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.  Today, two-thirds of the ancient city still lies under the modern city of Ercolano.  In order to continue the excavations, large parts of the modern city would have to be knocked down, as Maiuri had started to do a few years before his death.  The diaries of Maiuri, together with interviews and unseen footage, lead us in the discovery of the archaeological site and invite us to consider the relationship that humans have with their past along with our desire to discover it, to understand it and to preserve it in time. • Paddle Ship “Patris”Lost in 1868... (Greece) 63 min.   This documentary concerns the historic steam engine paddle ship Patris, which sank in 1868.  This type of boat is unique because it used wheels for movement.  It was manufactured at a time before the advent of the screw propeller, when most ships were made of wood.  This particular boat was one of very few made of metal and for this reason it was preserved.  It was a luxurious vessel that had a paddle-wheel steam engine, but also had sails.  Patris was property of “Hellenic Steam Navigation Company,” the first coastal shipping company that was founded in Greece.  The film was made with the collaboration of the Museum of Industrial Heritage of Syros, subordinate to the Municipality of Syros, Greece, and the Greek Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Research, the Department of Underwater Antiquities, and the Underwater Filming Research (UFR) diving team. (Best Film by Jury; Best Cinematography by Jury; Honorable Mention by Jury for Narration, Animation, Special Effects, Script, Music, and Inspiration) TAC Festival 2011 Moves to the Recital Hall at The Shedd Institute ALI announces the next edition of The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival, May 24-28, 2010, in the Recital Hall at The Shedd Institute, 868 High Street, in downtown Eugene, Oregon.  TAC Festival will bring to Oregon the world’s best films on archaeology, ancient cultures, and the world of indigenous peoples.  Our Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Tom King, speaking on his archaeological research in the continuing search for aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.  Please join us in welcoming to Eugene the people of the world for this cinematic celebration of the human cultural heritage.  Details at http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml.