Lexington's 2010 One World Film Festival opens on February 25, and during the months of February and March will show ten films in its series. This is the Twelfth 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 2010 films, please click HERE

1. Departures
Japan, 2008 (PG-13)
Yôjirô Takita, Director
Japanese with Subtitles (130 min.)
Thursday February 25, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
2009 ACADEMY AWARD WINNER FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
After losing his job, young cellist Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) comes to the realization he's been heading down the wrong career path. Returning to his hometown, he trains for a new professional role as a nakanshi, or one who prepares the dead for burial. Tsutomu Yamazaki provides comic relief as Daigo's eccentric mentor in director Yojiro Takita's Oscar-winning drama about finding your bliss.
Reception following film sponsored by Japan-American Society of Kentucky

2. Sita Sings The Blues
USA, 2008 (Not Rated)
Nina Paley, Director
English (82 min.)
Sunday February 28, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
India's ancient epic Ramayana gets a fresh, funny makeover in this award-winning animated film. Using songs and humor, director Nina Paley juxtaposes the split between Rama and Sita with her own divorce to tell "the greatest break-up story ever told." Original 1920's recordings of singer Annette Hanshaw give musical voice to Sita, the star of Paley's tale, while amusing shadow puppets provide the narration for the colorful story.
Reception sponsored by Bluegrass Indo-American Civic Society

3. The Garden
USA, 2008 (Not Rated)
Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Director
English (80 min.)
Thursday March 4, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
Filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy's Oscar-nominated documentary follows a group of low-income families struggling to protect a 14-acre urban farm in the middle of South Central Los Angeles from bureaucratic real estate developers. A lightning rod for controversy in 2004, the families' struggle drew the attention of numerous notable activists and politicians, including Dennis Kucinich, Joan Baez and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigoisa.
Reception sponsored by Sustainable Communities Network, Bluegrass School & Community Garden Network, Central Kentucky Council for Peace & Justice, Good Foods Market & Cafe

4. Holly
USA, 2006 (R)
Guy Moshe, Director
English & Khmer & Vietnamese with Subtitles (114 min.)
Sunday March 7, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
In this poignant drama, a young Vietnamese girl is sold into prostitution by her family, and then tries to escape her dismal life by beginning a platonic relationship with a 40-year-old American named Patrick (Ron Livingston), a stolen-artifacts dealer. Twelve-year-old Holly (Thuy Nguyen) has been smuggled into Cambodia, becoming one of countless children exploited in the sex trade; Patrick, who has his own troubles, may be her only hope.
Reception sponsored by The Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center

5. At Home in Utopia
USA, 2008 (Not Rated)
Michal Goldman, Director
English (133 min.)
Thursday March 11, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
A home of one’s own: that’s the American dream. But what happens when the dreamers are immigrants, factory workers, and Communists? In the mid-1920s, thousands of Jewish immigrant garment workers managed to catapult themselves out of urban slums and ghettos by pooling their resources and building four cooperatively owned and run apartment complexes in the Bronx. An epic tale of the struggle for equity and justice across two generations, the film tracks the rise and fall of one community from the 1920s into the 1950s, paying close attention to the passions that bound them together and those that tore them apart. Along the way, At Home in Utopia bears witness to lives lived with courage across the barriers of race, nation, language, convention, and sometimes even common sense.
Reception sponsored by Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America

6. Mine
USA, 2009 (Not Rated)
Geralyn Pezanoski, Director
English (80 min.)
Sunday March 14, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
Explore the devastating effects Hurricane Katrina had on the lives of dogs and dog owners separated during and after the storm. This documentary profiles the lives of Katrina victims and the new families who've adopted their pets. New Orleans residents like Gloria Richardson, Malvin Cavalier and Jesse Pullins discuss their hurricane experiences, relationships with their dogs and desires to be reunited.
Reception sponsored by Lexington Humane Society

7. In Search of Our Fathers
USA, 1992 (Not Rated)
Marco Williams, Director
English (70 min.)
Thursday March 18, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
Marco Williams was 24 years old when he learned his father's name. It was the first of many things he would discover about himself and his family in a journey into his family's past. In Search of Our Fathers is the first-person story of Williams's seven-year search to learn about his father, to uncover the circumstances surrounding his birth, and to come to terms with what it means to grow up fatherless.

8. Frozen River
USA, 2008 (R)
Courtney Hunt, Director
English (97 min.)
Sunday March 21, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
On a Mohawk reservation on the Canadian border, Ray Eddy (Oscar-nominated Melissa Leo) teams with widowed tribe member Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham) to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Though the work provides the women with much-needed money, each trip puts them in peril. This riveting drama was nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature.
Reception sponsored by Central Kentucky Council for Peace & Justice

9. Lemon Tree
Israel, 1992 (PG)
Eran Riklis, Director
Arabic & Hebrew with Subtitles (106 min.)
Thursday March 25, 5:00 and 7:30PM
Kentucky Theatre
In this drama based on a true story, Palestinian widow (Hiam Abbass) fights to keep her lemon grove from being destroyed when Israeli security forces declare it a threat to the Israeli defense minister living next door (Doron Tavory). Teaming with a young lawyer (Ali Suliman), the widow takes her case to the Israeli Supreme Court. But in the process of seeking justice, she's forced to hide the forbidden bond growing between them.
Reception sponsored by The Muslim Women’s Council of Kentucky

10. Good Hair
USA, 2009 (PG-13)
Jeff Stilson, Director
English (96 min.)
Sunday March 28, 2:00 and 4:30PM
Lexington Public Library Theater
Actor and stand-up comic Chris Rock travels around the world from beauty salons to science labs to comb through the mystery of African American hair in director Jeff Stilson's insightful and hilarious documentary. Rock contemplates the purpose and application of a weave as well as women's self-esteem and their locks. Ice-T, Nia Long, Rev. Al Sharpton, Raven-Symoné, Maya Angelou and other celebrities of their insights on just what it means to have "good hair."

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.