The Archaeology Channel International Film Festival opens its 18th annual edition on May 12th at the Oregon Electric Station in Eugene, Oregon. The five-day event offers film screenings and will also feature expert speakers, a guided tour, TAC Conference on Cultural Heritage Media, a TAC Conference symposium on the search for Amelia Earhart and possibly other symposia, and a Saturday social gathering, and will conclude with an awards reception on May 16th.

“Although we limited the Festival to online screenings last year, we don’t want the coronavirus to take top billing this time. Our exhibition of the world’s top cultural heritage films continues to gain prestige internationally because of wide participation and outstanding content. We expect filmmakers and TAC Conference presenters to come from many countries and US states,” says Festival Director and ALI head Rick Pettigrew. “Our launch of Heritage Broadcasting Service gives filmmakers another good reason to participate in Lane County’s longest-running film festival, as we are on the lookout for premium content to stream, and this competition is a perfect proving ground. This year’s lineup of films stands up well in terms of diversity, innovation and quality filmmaking. We very much look forward to seeing real people enjoying our offerings at real places!”

The 30 films in the competition cover a variety of fascinating subjects from around the globe: places as far apart as Papua New Guinea and France and across the human timeline from hundreds of thousands of years ago in the Neanderthal era to 20th-century horrors of World War II. That’s just a start. How about a 5000-year-old cold case, an initiation ritual in the Amazon featuring stinging ants, and thousands of letters written on clay tablets reflecting the lives of real people 4000 years ago? And we have much more!

Tom King’s Keynote Address at the Festival Banquet will focus on the longstanding search for Amelia Earhart, for which he is the chief archaeologist. This presentation links well with the TAC Conference symposium on the same topic.

Competition Films of 18th Edition of The Archaeology Channel International Film Festival

The Art of Time – Highway construction reveals stunning tombs from different periods of Chile’s prehistory

Comprehending the History: Mysteries of Ancient Kultobe – Excavating for Kazakhstan’s archaeological park

Desalm – Village elder tells the story of an oasis community producing date palms in Iran’s harshest desert region

The Dune People – Excavators on Normandy beach reveal surprising details about pre-Roman Celtic life and trade

Etoa: A Kokoda Track Story – Native memory and excavation recover story of forgotten WWII New Guinea battle

The Forgotten Refuge – Subterranean quarry in Normandy revives memory of civilian horror and survival in 1944

The Gallic Pact – In 57 BC, young aristocrat initiate takes part as Gauls prepare for battle against Julius Caesar

The Ghost of the Neolithic – In a 5000-year-old cold case, clothes of Neolithic man melt out from a Swiss glacier

Homo Sapiens: New Origins – Moroccan cave surprisingly reveals bones of modern humans from 300,000 BC

Kaddish – Young Jewish man in 1943 Poland honors deceased mother and flees for the Promised Land with rabbi

La Charada Teatro: Puppeteers in Guatemala – Artists make puppets, write scripts and perform internationally

The Lost Redwood – Chinese botanist discovers living fossil, but Westerners claim credit for the find

Meeting Neanderthal – Discoveries in France and England tell a new story about how Neanderthals actually lived

No Roses on a Sailor’s Grave – Young archaeologist devotedly assists D-Day survivor to locate his sunken ship

Pray – Japanese people of all ages participate in rites-of-passage and other rituals at centuries-old Shinto shrines

Riddle of the Bones: Gender Revolution – Archaeological evidence overturns presumptions about gender roles

Riding through Time – The art of horse riding in archival images from antiquity through the Middle Ages

Rituals: Amazonia, To Become a Man – Man returns to Native village for son to endure initiation by stinging ants

Sarevo – Two Baluchi teenagers in arid eastern Iran raise camels to earn income and preserve their way of life

Saving the Sacred – ThePomo of California’s Clear Lake team up to preserve priceless 14,000-year heritage

Seeds – Excavated sites show how farming evolved in Fertile Crescent and spread westward into Europe

Sfumato – Rebellious motorcycle-riding daughter defies tradition while helping her rural Iranian family

Smoke and Ocher – Set 19,000 years ago, man risks a child’s life, is cast out by his tribe, and finds shelter

Thus Speaks Taram-Kubi: Assyrian Correspondence – Letters on clay tablets reflect real life 4000 years ago

Tintin and the Mystery of the Rascar Capac Mummy – True story of mummy character from popular comicsTwelve Decades of Discovery – Archaeology evolves during 123 years of excavation at ancient Corinth

The Untold Story of the Vatican – Uncovering epic history of seat of Christendom, from Roman times to present

Viva Presidio! – White mayor of Rio Grande border town ardently participates in Mexican-American culture

We, the Voyagers: Our Moana – Modern Polynesians build vessels and navigate seas using ancient methods

What If Nothing? – Polish archaeologist, facing mockery, invests 30 years looking for lost Egyptian tomb