Lexington, KY - While Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is perhaps a bit more famous - and more controversial - Lexington has its own verifiable academy of film critics: a discerning crew of film and culture buffs who spend much of their free time screening and critiquing movies, then deciding which handful will make the cut. Now in its 13th year, the One World Film Festival's committee remains committed to providing the community with free public screenings of films that might otherwise go unseen in Lexington. At the core of the group's mission, however, is to offer something else to the community: a fresh - and often sobering - glimpse at some of the most difficult issues faced by cultures around the world today.
"We take it very seriously," event organizer and committee member Annette Mayer said of the selection process, which typically starts in August. "We don't want you wasting your time to come see a film that we don't think is top notch."
The origins of the festival trace back to 1997, when Lexington selected 20 local citizens to participate in a three-year national program called the Pew Civic Leadership Initiative. Lexington was one of 10 national cities chosen for the pilot program, designed to address community problems, and it spawned a number of ideas for local side projects that could potentially benefit the community, one of which was the brainchild of Lexington civic entrepreneur and medical scientist Raj Chawla. Originally from India, Chawla felt that an international film festival would be a great means to promote an appreciation of cultural diversity.
"Raj had the idea that through film, you could help people understand different cultures," Mayer said. In 1999, its inaugural year, the festival was three days long and featured three films addressing socially relevant topics such as HIV/AIDS, gay-straight relations and civil rights; the next year, the event spanned over two and a half weeks, and had expanded to include eight films. When Chawla passed away unexpectedly during the summer of 2000, other volunteers decided to host the festival another year in his memory.
"We didn't think we would continue it this long," Mayer said recently, "but now, we can't stop."
In many regards, the festival has remained true to its roots, utilizing the original two venues (Kentucky Theatre and the downtown public library Central Library Theatre). Many of the social issues covered in the selected films remain the same - civil rights, gay rights, immigrants' struggles, Appalachian issues - though topics such as public health and environmental issues have been finding their way into the mix.
Mayer admits that the committee occasionally questions whether or not they have the momentum to push forth another year - it's a time-consuming commitment for the 10 volunteer members, requiring months of screening, planning, promoting and, perhaps the biggest hurdle, fundraising. As a completely free event, One World Film Festival relies solely on sponsorships, donations and the occasional grant to cover its costs, nearly all of which lies in distributor fees, which can be anywhere from $300 - 1,000 per film.
The event kicks off this year with a screening of "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," an Oscar-nominated documentary that chronicles the account of former United States military analyst Daniel Ellsburg, who leaked top-secret Pentagon documents that exposed shocking truths about the Vietnam War and the Nixon administration. Bearing a particular resemblance to the controversy surrounding the government cables published by WikiLeaks nearly 30 years later, the film is a powerful documentary, Mayer said, and also serves the group's mission of encouraging the community to look at issues from a new perspective.
"That's part of the job - to encourage people to come see a film, to think about it, and maybe to motivate (them) to do something one way or the other," Mayer said. "And if not - well, at least you see a different side of something."
One World Film Festival will screen a different film each Sunday and Thursday from Feb. 13 through March 17, alternating at the Kentucky Theatre and Central Public Library Theater. All films are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.oneworldfilmfestival.org.