Lexington's 2008 One World Film Festival opens on February 10, and during the months of February and March will show thirteen films in its series. This is the Tenth Anniversary of the film festival which has at its objective to show documentaries, feature films and sponsor speakers chosen to stimulate discussion and increase understanding of issues of race, culture, and ethnicity. All associated with the series are volunteers, and all film showings are free and open to the public. The following films have been selected for this year's festival:
1. Please Vote For Me
South Africa/Denmark, 2007 (Not Rated)
Weijun Chen, Director
Mandarin with English Subtitles (58 min.)
Sunday, February 10: 2:00PM & 4:30PM
Central Library Theater
This entertaining and enlightening documentary chronicles the third grade class election for the prestigious position of Class Monitor at the Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China. Director Weijun Chen, says of his film, "It provides a private view of a microcosm of contemporary Chinese culture."
2. Radiant City
Canada, 2006 (Not Rated)
Jim Brown & Gary Burns, Directors
English (86 min.)
Thursday, February 14: 5:00PM & 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
This intriguing documentary explores the development of suburban life over the last 50 years and the effect that urban sprawl has had on American society. Directors Jim Brown and Gary Burns deliver a provocative reflection on why we live the way we do.
3. Golden Door
Italy, 2006 (PG-13)
Emanuele Crialese, Director
Italian with English Subtitles (118 min.)
Sunday, February 17: 2:00PM
Central Library Theater
The Golden Door is a beautiful telling of a Sicilian family’s immigration voyage to America. Combining realistic scenes of their journey with dreamlike sequences that invoke the meaning of the Golden Door, the film recounts the concepts that comprise our ideas of immigration and immigrants.
4. Junebug
USA, 2005 (R)
Phil Morrison, Director
English (107 min.)
Tuesday, February 19: 7:30PM
Central Library Theater
Junebug tells the story of a clash of cultures as a big city art dealer, a misogynist folk artist, the art dealer’s Southern husband, and the husband’s North Carolina family come together over a long weekend. The film sensitively explores the meaning of cultural identity in a very ordinary setting. Amy Adams was Oscar nominated for her role as a young mother-to-be struggling to verbalize cross-currents of hope, anger, estrangement, and love within her family.
5. The Real Dirt on Farmer John
USA, 2005 (Not Rated)
Taggart Siegel, Director
English (82 min.)
Thursday, February 21: 5:00PM & 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
Filmmaker Taggart Siegel presents a fascinating portrait of John Peterson, a man who refused to yield. After transforming his farm into an experimental haven in the heady 1960s, he attracted artists, hippies and other political radicals. But when the agriculture crisis of the late 1980s led to the farm's eventual collapse, most locals thought he'd call it quits. They were wrong. This epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer details the dramatic failure of Farmer John's conventional farming operation and its eventual resurrection into a thriving, organic community-supported agriculture farm.
6. Banished
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Marco Williams, Director
English (90 min.)
Sunday, February 24: 2:00PM
Central Library Theater
In recognition of Black History Month.
African-American documentarian Marco Williams recounts the true story of three American towns where white citizens drove out blacks in the early 20th century to maintain "racial purity." He then explores the lingering effects of that injustice by revisiting the towns today.
7. My Country, My Country
USA, 2006 (Not Rated)
Laura Poitras, Director
Arabic, English, Kurdish, with English subtitles (86 min.)
Tuesday, February 26: 7:30PM
Central Library Theater
Filmmaker Laura Poitras's Oscar-nominated documentary provides an inside look at war-torn Iraq from the perspective of Dr. Riyadh, a Baghdad physician. The film delivers a reality check for the effect the American presence in Iraq has had on citizens and soldiers alike.
8. Companeras
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Elizabeth Massie, Writer/Director
English (60 min.)
Thursday, February 28: 5:00PM & 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
A beautiful, sensitive film that profiles America's first all-female mariachi band: Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles. The film alternates between heart-stirring performances and behind-the-scenes band drama. The film's writer/director, Elizabeth Massie, will be our special guest for the film showings.
9. Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
USA, 2006 (Not Rated)
Frank Popper, Director
English (82 min.)
Sunday, March 2: 2:00PM & 4:30PM
Central Library Theater
This documentary tells the story of Jeff Smith, a young, money-poor and energetic unknown who runs for the congressional seat vacated by retiring congressman Dick Gephardt. Frank Popper's engaging film details Missouri's 2004 Democratic primary for the U. S. Congress, which pitted Smith against state Rep. Russ Carnahan, the scion of a powerful political family.
10. Miss Navajo
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Billy Luther, Director
English (60 min.)
Tuesday, March 4: 7:30PM
Central Library Theater
In recognition of Women's History Month.
This film documents the young women who compete for the Miss Navajo Nation title. In showing the importance of cultural preservation and the role of women in continuing yet dying traditions, director Billy Luthor reveals the surprising contribution that can be made by a beauty pageant.
11. I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal
USA, 2006 (PG-13)
Richard Trank, Writer/Director
English (105 min.)
Thursday, March 6: 5:00PM & 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
This documentary recounts the life and legacy of the famous Nazi-hunter and humanist who died in 2005. Narrated by Nicole Kidman, the film "succeeds wonderfully as an understated historical account of a brave, tireless man whose story the world would be well served not to forget."
12. Angels in the Dust
USA, 2006 (Not Rated)
Louise Hogarth, Director
English (95 min.)
Sunday, March 9: 2:00PM & 4:30PM
Central Library Theater
Louise Hogarth's documentary tells the fascinating story of Marion Cloete. In a nation ravaged by AIDS and the aftereffects of apartheid, Marion leaves her middle-class Johannesburg suburb and, with the help of her family, establishes Botshabelo, a traditional African community that houses, nurtures and gives hope to more than 500 parentless children.
13. Blame It on Fidel
France, 2006 (Not Rated)
Julie Gavras, Director
French, Spanish and English, with English subtitles (99 min.)
Thursday, March 13: 5:00PM & 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
Julie Gavras (daughter of famed French filmmaker Costa-Gavras) directs this 2007 Sundance Film Festival competition entry that draws the audience back to the 19070’s, when a wave of revolution and counter revolution was washing over much of the globe. Seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old Parisian girl, the film shows her ordinary life being upended by events happening on the other side of the world.
DIRECTIONS
The Kentucky / State Theater is 214 East Main Street in Lexington
Phone: 859-231-6997
Main Street is one way (is known as Richmond Rd as it goes east) so you need to get to it from east of the Theater, either from Rose another connecting street. You will pass the KY Theater about a block from Rose. Parking is easiest in the police station parking structure. This is right beyond the light at Martin Luther King and Main. Turn in on your left.
The Central Library is 140 East Main Street in Lexington Phone: 859-231-5500.
The Central Public Library is also on Main St., just past the Police Station. There is free parking in their parking structure behind the Library.
The Worsham Theater is in the University of Kentucky Student Center on Euclid Ave. 859-257-9000 UK Info line 859-257-5684.
The Worsham Theater is inside the newer UK Student Center on Euclid. The Student Center is between Rose St. and Limestone (which is also Nicolasville Rd.) On Sundays there will be plenty of parking in lots right beside or across from the student center.