Hello Movie Lovers,
Our 2025 screenings have come to an end, and we are looking back on the past year at UW Cinematheque.
The year of programming began with a filled-to-capacity screening of Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, and throughout the rest of the semester, the Madison premieres kept on coming: All We Imagine As Light, Sujo, On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, and Universal Language were all room-filling, special screenings. In addition, we celebrated the Sam Peckinpah centennial, including a restored and expanded version of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. A restoration of the original theatrical version of Amadeus was a highlight of our Best of Il Cinema Ritrovato series. In February we celebrated women of color on 1970s American Cinema with screenings of films featuring Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, and Diahann Carroll. We also presented two recent films from Angola and screened recent restorations of The Fall and The Wages of Fear.
For our 2025 Summer at Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall came alive with cinematic excitement as audiences saluted recently departed film legends David Lynch and Gene Hackman, discovered the passionate cinephilia of Claude Lelouch through six of the director’s feature films, and sampled some 70s Hong Kong martial arts mayhem (The Mystery of Chess Boxing and The Beach of the War Gods).
Our current season has been one highlight after another, from the “roadshow version” of Apocalypse Now (complete with souvenir booklet), to David Drazin’s live piano accompaniment for The Italian Straw Hat, from the Madison premiere of Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, to a very popular screening of Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy classic (and Christmas movie), Brazil. We were also able to add two “last minute” screenings this December to our already robust Madison Premieres roster: The Tale of Silyan and The Secret Agent, the latter featuring a personalized introduction from director Kleber Mendonça Filho.
We continue to be heartened by audience turnout for our screenings. It is our viewers who strengthen our reputation as the place to be for all Madison area film lovers. Your donations keep our programs free and open to the public. Please consider a gift to the Cinematheque by donating here.
Thank you, and here’s to another bounty of cinematic riches in 2026!
Happy Holidays,
Jim Healy, Director of Programming, UW Cinematheque