Since 2004 World Cinema Day, a collaboration between UW-Madison’s Institute for Regional and International Studies area studies centers and the Wisconsin Film Festival, brings schoolchildren and teachers to Madison for the screening of high-quality, international cinema with additional content provided by UW faculty or staff.
This is an annual event held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Film Festival.
Here is the list of films we have shown at World Cinema Day since this event’s inception:
- 2026: Little Rebel’s Cinema Club (Indonesia)
- 2026: The Strange Case of the Human Cannonball (Ecuador)
- 2026: Riding Time (UK)
- 2026: Son (Russia)
- 2026: The Thief (Greenland)
- 2026: America (Peru)
- 2025:Yasmeen’s Element, Pakistan, 2024
- 2024: Totem, The Netherlands, 2022
- 2023: Rickshaw Girl, Bangladesh 2021
- 2022: Mission Ulja Funk, Poland, German, Luxembourg 2021
- 2020: Zu Weit Weg (Too Far Away), Germany 2019–for middle schoolers; المرشح المثالي (The Perfect Candidate), Saudi Arabia 2019–for high schoolers
- 2019:Tito and the Birds (Brazil)–for middle schoolers; Midnight Traveler (Canada, Qatar, UK, USA)–for high schoolers
- 2018: The Taste of Rice Flower (China)
- 2017: Parting (Afghanistan, Iran)
- 2016: Celestial Camel (Republic of Kalmykia)
- 2015: Girlhood (France)
- 2014:Village at the End of the World (Greenland)
- 2013: The Painting (France)
- 2012: Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
- 2011: The Colors of the Mountain (Colombia)
- 2010: Masquerades (Algeria)
- 2009: Football Under Cover (Germany)
- 2008: Fermat’s Room (Spain)
- 2007: Of Love and Eggs (Indonesia)
- 2006: Stolen Life (China)
- 2005: Daughter of Keltoum (Tunisia)
- 2004: Ticket to Jerusalem (Israel)
WCD was coordinated by UW-Madison’s Language Institute through 2009. Many of the films listed above were presented in collaboration with the Global Film Initiative. We thank them for their support and assistance over the years.