For over two decades, a collaboration between the Wisconsin Film Festival and UW-Madison’s Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) has connected Wisconsin students with global cultures through the big screen. This year, World Cinema Day saw its reach expand even further.
While last year’s screening brought 250 students to the theater, the event on April 10 drew a record-breaking crowd of over 800 middle and high schoolers.
Driven by high demand, the program expanded to two separate locations. The Barrymore Theatre hosted a large group of 620 students, while Music Hall welcomed an additional 190, making it one of the most successful years in the program’s history.
In another exciting departure from tradition, the program featured a collection of global short films rather than a single feature-length movie. The shift allowed students to see a wide range of storytelling styles and cultures in one morning. The lineup included:
- Little Rebel’s Cinema Club (Indonesia)
- The Strange Case of the Human Cannonball (Ecuador)
- Riding Time (UK)
- América (Peru)
- Son (Russia)
- The Thief (Greenland)
“World Cinema Day brings the world to area middle and high school students, challenging their cultural assumptions and expanding their media experience and sophistication,” said Terry Kerr, outreach coordinator for the Wisconsin Film Festival. “Even more importantly, these thoughtful stories connect students to the global community, to one another, and to their own humanity.”
The surge in attendance highlights a growing interest in international education and the power of film to connect students with different ways of life. To learn more about the IRIS centers and their ongoing outreach efforts, please visit the Regional Centers Overview webpage.