Twelve Lions
Film Festival
SEPTEMBER 26 - 29, 2024
Now accepting submissions!
Our vision
Twelve Lions Film Festival is a four-day event showcasing quality independent film from around the world. Through film premieres, retrospectives, workshops, panels, meet-and-greets, and other networking events, we aim to further the careers of emerging filmmakers and to deepen the film lover’s appreciation of cinema in all its richness and diversity.
We founded Twelve Lions Film Festival to celebrate the art of film, encourage emerging filmmakers, challenge and entertain film lovers, and support Kentucky’s growing film industry.
Last time we looked, there were 11,073 film festivals listed on FilmFreeway. So, why start one more? Four reasons. One, Kentucky is home to thousands of passionate film lovers with a hunger to see new and cutting-edge film and to discover the next great cinematic artists. Two, we’re a project of the century-old Kentucky Theatre, and we can’t think of a more spectacular place to debut your film than this historic and beautiful Beaux Arts movie palace. Three, there are multiple screening venues within one mile of The Kentucky and most of these venues are within walking distance of Lexington’s burgeoning bar and restaurant scene. Four, Kentucky is a great place to make films. The industry is growing and we wanted to do our part to support not only the industry but our own local filmmakers. The networking opportunities that are created by a film festival are a great way to do this.
So, yes, we’re just two years old. But that means we are going to work twice as hard to make this festival a success and to make sure you have a great and rewarding time at Twelve Lions, whether you’re a filmmaker or a film fan.
Why another film festival?
Why “Twelve Lions”?
Lions can be a handful, so why did we name our festival after a dozen of them? We considered all sorts of names and then remembered a fun trivia question about our theater that we'd used during an event. "How many lions are there in The Kentucky Theatre's front lobby?" We don't recall if anyone got the correct answer that night but there are indeed 12 lions. Never fear, they aren't roaming freely but instead two gold lions appear in the plaster friezes over all six doorways in the front foyer of our 100-year-old Beaux Arts style cinema. We really like the idea of honoring the theater's architecture and history in this fun and memorable way.
