Twelve Lions Film Festival

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Lexington, KY
Twelve Lions Film Festival

A four-day event showcasing independent film from around the world.

05/31/2026

There's 1 Day left to submit your film for the TLFF 2026 Regular Submission Deadline!
Submit your film before prices increase after June 1. The Late Submission Deadline is July 1, and Official Selection filmmakers will be notified after July 15.
Submit your film today! Link Below:
https://filmfreeway.com/TwelveLionsFilmFestival

05/30/2026

We are 2 Days out from the Regular Submission Deadline for TLFF 2026! Submit your film before prices increase after the regular submission deadline on June 1. The Late Submission Deadline is July 1, and Official Selections will be notified after July 15.

Submit your film day. Link Below:
https://filmfreeway.com/TwelveLionsFilmFestival

05/29/2026

We are 3 Days out from the Regular Submission Deadline for TLFF 2026! Submit your film before prices increase after the regular submission deadline on June 1. The Late Submission Deadline is July 1, and Official Selections will be notified after July 15.

Submit your film day. 🔗Link Below:
https://filmfreeway.com/TwelveLionsFilmFestival

05/01/2026

The Twelve Lions Film Festival is a project of The Historic Kentucky Theatre, an independent arthouse theatre and community space in Lexington, KY where great films inspire conversation and connection.

Come celebrate filmmakers, their creations, and the community those stories create at TLFF 2026.

To learn more about Twelve Lions Film Festival visit our website https://www.twelvelionsfilmfestival.com/

If you have a film you would like to submit for consideration, please find us on FilmFreeway
https://filmfreeway.com/TwelveLionsFilmFestival

🎬Twelve Lions Film Festival
📍Lexington, Kentucky
🗓September 25 - 27, 2026

04/27/2026

TLFF 2025 official selection, BACKSIDE is now available to watch and stream through and , just in time for Derby Day!

BACKSIDE, offers a tender and immersive look into the unseen world of immigrant workers who work behind the scenes of Kentucky horse racing. From dawn until dusk these workers care for prized racehorses, laboring to sustain a multi-billion dollar industry | Directed by Raul O. Paz-Pastrana, and produced by Gabriella Garcia-Pardo and Patricia Alvarez Astacio.

A co-production of Backside Film LLC, , Latino Public Broadcasting and , and a co-presentation pf PBS's Independent Lens and VOCES.

Stream NOW the PBS.org, linked below, until July 12, 2026:
https://www.pbs.org/video/backside-workers-behind-the-kentucky-derby-d8olpd/

OR on Youtube , and on the app
And on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and Fandango.

04/23/2026

In this interview clip, Director of TLFF 2025 Official Selection FOREMEMBERENCE, Travis Price, gives a word of advice for other student filmmakers.

Forememberence is the story of Emily, who has her world shaken when she meets Aiden, a young man with a condition that allows him to remember the future instead of the past

To watch the entire interview visit the link below:
https://youtu.be/amT0VCmvlDY?si=sAjzacPTtqTo3EDN

To learn more about TLFF and to hear from other filmmakers about their work. visit our page at:
/

04/17/2026

Calling all filmmakers! We are now accepting films for the regular submission cycle until June 1, 2026.
For our fourth year, TLFF will be held from Septemeber 25 - 27, 2026 in our home, The Historic Kentucky Theatre. Keep following us for updates on deadlines, programming, selections, and more!

Submit your film here: https://filmfreeway.com/TwelveLionsFilmFestival

04/16/2026

We sat down with Kentucky filmmaker at TLFF 25 to discuss how he and co-director used documentary as a tool to honor a moment in the life of North Carolina artist Freeman Vines.

FREEMAN VINES is the story documentary about 82-year-old artist Freeman Vines, a luthier who hand-carved exquisite guitars in search of an elusive sound, some from the wood of a tree linked to the lynching of a young Black man in a small eastern North Carolina town.

Watch this interview and more on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/7WzkfHv9pZY

AND Watch the full film on Switchboard Magazine YouTube here: https://youtu.be/UHP8Al_9I5U?si=wAzmW4Zi5noBzxcH

03/31/2026

TLFF 2025 Best Sound and Audience Choice winner, FREEMAN VINES, directed by Andre Robert Lee and Lexingtonian Tim Kirkman, is an impactful story about 82-year-old artist Freeman Vines, a luthier who hand-carved exquisite guitars in search of an elusive sound, some from the wood of a tree linked to the lynching of a young Black man in a small eastern North Carolina town.

If you missed FREEMAN VINES at TLFF, don’t worry! The short film is available on YouTube to watch on your home screens.

Watch Here: https://youtu.be/UHP8Al_9I5U?si=H02PkMP4izyEKFz8

03/18/2026

We’re just a little over halfway to the Early Bird submission deadline for TLFF 2026!
Submit your film before March 31st to get the Early Bird price.
We’ll continue accepting regular submissions through June 1st, and late submissions through July 1st.

Address

214 East Main Street
Lexington, KY
40507

Website

https://www.twelvelionsfilmfestival.com/

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