It’s time to travel the globe with documentarians to discover history and connect it to the present. The Archaeology Channel International Film Festival returns for its 18th year for four days of viewing 20 quality films from more than 100 submissions. The topics of the films are as diverse as the countries where they were made, and four films stand out. Burren Girl is the story of a Minnesota woman who searches for the place — Burren in the region of County Clare, Ireland — that her grandmother left behind and discovers a clan (and its medieval legacy) scattered and lost during the most challenging periods of Irish history. 

Daughters of Courage is the world’s first fictional Tukano-language film that highlights the importance of community and immerses the viewer into the Amazon. An outsider threatens the village, and three girls, inspired by an elderly shaman, imagine a way to protect the jungle, the village and their future. 

The Pillar of Strength is an animated story that touches on family, natural relations and human identity in Borneo. Finally, Songs of the Water Spirits, filmed in the northern India region of Ladakh, takes viewers through the struggles — and mediation process — of preserving the mystical traditions of the land against uncontrolled development.   

The Archaeology Channel International Film Festival opens at 7 pm Thursday, May 12 and runs through May 15 at The Shedd, 868 High Street. A complete schedule of the screenings is at  ArchaeologyChannel.org/festival. FREE.