Lexington's 2009 One World Film Festival opens on February 15, and during the months of February and March will show eleven films in its series. This is the Eleventh 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:
Note: For a printable list of 2009 films, please click HERE
1. Autism: The Musical
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Tricia Regan, Director
English (94 min.)
Sunday February 15, 2:00PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
2008 EMMY AWARD WINNER FOR NONFICTION SPECIAL
This heart-warming documentary captures the transformation of several autistic children as they create and perform their own musical. Each child in the film struggles with his or her own challenges. In the end, the film provides a hopeful picture. It is estimated that today one in 150 children is affected by autism. A panel discussion on autism will follow the film showing. The Autism Society of the Bluegrass will host a reception in Conference Room A in the Library to conclude the afternoon's event.
RECEPTION FOLLOWING FILM SPONSORED BY THE AUTISM SOCIETY OF THE BLUEGRASS
2. Pete Seeger: Power of Song
USA, 2007 (PG)
Jim Brown, Director
English (93 min.)
Thursday February 19, 7:00PM
Kentucky Theatre
This is the life of Pete Seeger, one of America's most well-known and beloved folk singers. With songs, stories, interviews, and film clips, the film chronicles the major humanitarian and ecological causes of the twentieth century, through which the lives of Pete Seeger, his family, and friends are woven. The voice, music, and spirit of Pete Seeger make this a lively, moving, and inspiring film. Michael Johnathon, of WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour and a friend of Pete Seeger's, will introduce the film.
RECEPTION FOLLOWING FILM SPONSORED BY WOODSONGS VOLUNTEERS
3. Moving Midway
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Godfrey Cheshire, Director
English (98 min.)
Sunday February 22, 2:00PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
When commercial development and a busy highway begin to encroach on Midway Plantation, a beautiful antebellum house near Raleigh, NC, the owner decides to move the whole plantation -- including house, outbuildings and maybe even ghosts -- to a new location. Godfrey Cheshire -- a former film critic and cousin to Midway Plantation's owner -- documents the move, which also uncovers and brings together previously unknown descendants of the family's great grandfather and an African American cook. The whole thing really is a moving experience!
RECEPTION FOLLOWING FILM SPONSORED BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
4. A Walk To Beautiful
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Mary Olive Smith & Amy Bucher, Directors
English & Amharic with English Subtitles (53 min.)
Thursday February 26, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
This documentary is the story of three Ethiopian women, rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities. They leave their homes in search of medical treatment for obstetric fistula, a condition caused by obstructed labor during childbirth. The women must walk for hours to the nearest road, and then search out public transportation to the capital, Addis Ababa, to find a hospital for treatment. This moving film documents their dire quest to be relieved of their social and physical stigma.
5. War Dance
USA, 2006 (PG-13)
Sean Fine & Andrea Nix, Directors
English (105 min.)
Sunday March 1, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
2008 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Set in civil-war torn Northern Uganda, this film follows the lives of youngsters who attend school in a refugee camp and find hope through a rich tradition of song and dance. Their love of music brings joy and excitement to otherwise poverty-stricken lives. The children momentarily forget their struggles as they participate in music, song, and dance at their school, and their trip to their nation's capital to participate in a prestigious music festival will touch your heart.
6. Up the Yangtze
Canada, 2007 (Not Rated)
Yung Chang, Director
Mandarin with English Subtitles (109 min.)
Thursday March 5, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
This film had its U.S. premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It portrays in sumptuous detail a farewell cruise up the Yangtze River in China, where the enormous Three Gorges Dam is under construction. Aboard the luxury cruise ship are prosperous Westerners waiting to catch a last glimpse of the classic river landscape before it is inundated by the rising waters of the dam and to view the cities being built along the new shorelines to house the dispossessed and displaced. Also aboard are two members of the ship's crew: a poor farmer's daughter who dreams of an education and a life away from the small, soon to be inundated farm beside the river, and an outgoing city-smart youth from a prosperous urban family. Their experiences mirror the changing business and social attitudes in present day China, with surprising results.
7. Outsourced
USA, 2007 (PG-13)
John Jeffcoat, Director
English (103 min.)
Sunday March 8, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
Beneath the surface of this humorous, low-key feature film lies a sharp satire that shows the human side of the frustrations brought about by today's "global economy." A sales manager in Seattle, whose department is being outsourced to India, is sent to Mumbai to train his successor and in the process learns some important lessons about globalization. This romantic comedy remind us that sometimes getting lost is the best way to find yourself.
8. Arranged
USA, 2007 (Not Rated)
Stefan C. Schaefer & Diane Crespo, Directors
English (90 min.)
Thursday March 12, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
A warm, funny, and deeply compassionate film that explores the world of orthodox religion (Islam and Judaism), the practices of arranged marriage, and the evolving friendship between two young women. While working in a New York City school, the friends share their complicated family experiences and gain a better understanding of both the other's community, and an appreciation of their own life choices.
9. Under the Same Moon
Mexico, 2007 (PG-13)
Patricia Riggin, Director
Spanish with English Subtitles (109 min.)
Sunday March 15, 2:00PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
A full-length feature, Under The Same Moon shows the dilemma of Mexican "illegals" living and working clandestinely in the U.S. and the loved ones they are supporting back home. This is the story of a nine-year old boy living in Mexico with his grandmother. Missing his mother in the U.S. terribly, he uses his street smarts to get to the U.S. and find her. His journey is sure to tug at your heartstrings.
10. Amal
Canada, 2007 (Not Rated)
Richie Mehta, Director
Hindi with English Subtitles (101 min.)
Thursday March 19, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
A multi-layered portrait of contemporary India, this feature film was shot in New Delhi, and is a modern day fable that asks the question of what success means to each individual. With an original, engaging story, AMAL ultimately reveals that the poorest of men are sometimes the richest.
11. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
Brazil, 2007 (PG)
Cao Hamburger, Director
Portuguese with English Subtitles (105 min.)
Sunday March 22, 2:00PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
This full-length feature is set in 1970's Brazil. Celebrating the World Cup Soccer Games, young Mauro is whisked from his home by his parents to live with his grandfather in the Sao Paulo Jewish ghetto. Mauro thinks his parents have gone on vacation, when in reality they are escaping the political unrest of Brazil at that time. When the grandfather soon dies, the next-door neighbor, Shlomo, begrudgingly takes Mauro under his wing. A tender film that beautifully highlights Brazil's political upheaval, soccer, age issues, religion, and more.
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.