The sad news that the beautiful filly Eight Belles had to be euthanized shortly after finishing second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby (run on May 8th) has raced far beyond reaches of Churchill Downs, raising questions about whether horseracing is a humane and/or sufficiently regulated sport.

Perhaps this concern is behind the flurry of email messages I've received requesting screening information about The First Saturday in May, the Hennegan brothers' excellent documentary about the 2006 Kentucky Derby and eight of the horses who raced in it. If you read my review of the film, you'll see that the documentary covers the death of the magnificent Barbaro, as the ultimate result of injuries sustained while racing in the Preakness, shortly after triumphing in the Kentucky Derby.

The deaths of the two thoroughbreds aren't directly related to each other, and the documentary is much more celebratory of horseracing than it is investigative--but this is yet another of those uncanny coincidents in which current events and the theme of a recently released documentary seem to collide.

Unfortunately The First Saturday in May is no longer playing in NYC or LA, but it is currently being shown at the following venues:

• Baltimore - Rotunda
• Cleveland - Cedar Lee
• Columbus (OH) - Drexel East
• Denver - Starz Film Center
• Durango (CO) - Abbey Theatre
• Lexington (KY) - Kentucky Theatre
• Seattle - Metro
• Tulsa - Circle Cinema
• Washington, DC - E Street

Additionally, it opens in Indianapolis at Key Cinemas on May 9, and in Huntington, NY at Cinema Arts Centre on May 30. If you want to see the film on a big screen, do so quickly--small independent films like this one rarely remain in theaters for long. If you can't make it to one of these theaters, you can pre-order a DVD, which will ship in about two weeks.