2026 EU Film Festival: Democracy, Community and (Space) Aliens!
Germany
2024
Director: Doris Metz
Documentary, 104 MIN
Looking for a politician of stature in a moment of dramatic political change? As a founding member of the Green Party, Petra Kelly played a decisive part in shaping political discourse in West Germany in the 1980s.
*Free Admission with University and College ID
*Free to Pitt ID for Faculty and Staff
2026 European Film Festival (EUFF): Democracy, Community and (Space) Aliens!
Hungary
2023
Director: Katalin Moldovia
Drama, 105 MIN
A Hungarian literature teacher faces a moral and political firestorm after recommending a film about queer poets. This timely drama captures the pressure of censorship, fear, and courage in a community on edge.
*Free Admission with University and College ID
*Free to Pitt ID for Faculty and Staff
Join us for our weekly Global Distinction Drop-In Hours on Tuesdays from 3-4 pm in the Global Hub! Come learn how to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market, get the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receive special recognition at graduation, and stand out to prospective employers.
Join Brazil Nuts in the Global Hub for weekly Bate-Papo Conversation Hours to meet other students and to practice Portuguese of all levels!
Bate-Papo Conversation Hours are every Monday during Spring semester, starting January 26 and ending April 20.
Hosted by Brazil Nuts
Join the German Club for weekly meetings on Mondays in the Global Hub to practice German and share about German culture!
Hosted by the German Club
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
This webinar is the fifth in a six-part series, The Arts of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, designed to help K-14 educators integrate Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European arts into their classrooms. It explores the influential and enduring role of theater in this region, where theatergoing remains an ordinary, affordable, and deeply valued cultural practice. From the collapse of empires during World War I to the repressions of the Communist era, and from the transformations of a globalized Europe to Russia’s ongoing war against a NATO- and EU-aligned neighbor, theater has consistently served as a resilient artistic and political force. Led by Dr. Alisa Ballard Lin, the session highlights several theatrical productions that reveal the dynamic intersection of art and politics over the past century. Each production has been selected for its accessibility and pedagogical value, with translated plays, photographs, video materials, and scholarly commentary readily available for classroom use.
Please join us for an engaging and practical session filled with insights, resources, and inspiration for bringing the rich theatrical traditions of Eastern Europe into your teaching.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
Join the Ukrainian Culture Club for a meeting in the Global Hub as they welcome new members and invite fellow students to join the club and embrace Ukrainian culture, language, and advocacy!
2026 EU Film Festival: Democracy, Community and (Space) Aliens!
A bold selection of experimental works exploring how cinema, the internet, and memory collide. These shorts push the boundaries of the video essay form, inviting viewers into an inventive new mode of storytelling.
About the Director: https://lehogalibertlaine.com/
Pitt students: Join Kya Baat Hai, a Hindi-Urdu conversational club that practices language and celebrates South Asian culture, for weekly conversation hours!
This two-day symposium will forge new lines of inquiry and dialogue in the study of sound and society under state socialism. Scholars from history, music, literature, film, and media studies will share recent work on regions of the globe from the Caribbean to East Asia where the revolutionary reshaping of political and social relations has had far-reaching effects on the way people hear the world around them. In the course of the conference, we will ask: how are political ideologies made audible? What are the material conditions, media networks, and sensory attunements that underpin state control of the means of sound production? And what might a “socialist sound studies” look or sound like?
Recent decades have witnessed a “sonic turn” across the humanities and social sciences, as sound is increasingly recognized as a generative resource for historical, aesthetic, and ethnographic research. In keeping with sound’s unruly capacity for bleeding through walls and bridging distances between people and places, this gathering will encourage conversations across regional and disciplinary boundaries. While the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China continue to play outsize roles in our understanding of state-socialist political formations, there is much to be heard in the transnational, peripheral, and intermedial spaces in which socialist ideas have flourished.
The symposium will include panels featuring eight invited speakers, commentary from University of Pittsburgh faculty, and a keynote address by Andrea Bohlman, Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Co-sponsored by:
Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies | Department of Music | Department of History | Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures | World History Center | European Studies Center | Global Studies Center | Asian Studies Center | Center for African Studies | Department of History of Art & Architecture | Department of English
2026 EU Film Festival: Democracy, Community and (Space) Aliens!
France, Benin, and Senegal
2024
Director: Mati Diop
Documentary, 68 MIN
As 26 stolen royal treasures finally return home from France to Benin, the objects themselves narrate a story of colonialism and reclamation. Mati Diop’s Golden Bear–winning documentary sparks a vibrant debate about history, democracy, and the future of cultural memory.
Group Discussion to follow the screening of the film.
Keynote Address for Auditory Cultures of World Socialism Symposium
Festivals of international friendship with their eroticized and racialized soundscapes, bootleg recordings of music from abroad, oral histories and testimonies—these are canonic sites for socialist worldmaking through sound, familiar vehicles for articulating or contesting visions of global collectivity. Yet they all cast listening and sound as vectors of thinking big. In this talk, I turn to the sound archives of world socialism with an ear for the intimate, small-scale, and particular. How can we attune ourselves to the global inequalities, insurgencies of class politics, and moments of transnational (im)mobility that complicate the media narratives inherited from the Cold War? Drawing on anthropologist Marina Peterson’s “glitch methodology” for the study of audio recording, I suggest modes for thinking of literal broken records, erased tapes, and quiet in the archive as constitutive elements of world socialisms’ sonic commons.
An associate professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Andrea Bohlman studies the political stakes of music making and sound in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Much of Bohlman’s work builds on her expertise in music in East Central Europe, cultures of protest, and everyday histories of sound recording. Her 2020 monograph, Musical Solidarities: Political Action and Music in Late Twentieth-Century Poland, grows out of a decade of research on the work of sound and music for the opposition to state socialism in Poland. Bohlman is currently writing a book, provisionally titled Rewind: Tape Recording, Sound Knowledge, and the Threads of History, 2020–1936, that is in many senses a backwards history of tape recording. The book unspools a constellation of tape archives to query histories of unstable listening.
Final Day of the 2026 EU Film Festival: Democracy, Community and [Space] Aliens!
First Film:
Teen Angst
Ukraine
2025
Director: Inga Pylypchuk
Documentary, 37 MIN
Nine young Ukrainian women document life in a war zone with honesty, humor, fear, and resilience. Their collaborative desktop film captures what coming-of-age looks like when the world is on fire.
2nd Film: Kyiv Theater, Island of Hope
France/Ukraine
2024
Director: Duccio Bellugi-Vannuccini & Thomas Briat
Documentary, 110 MIN
A legendary French theater director brings a workshop to wartime Kyiv, igniting a creative refuge amid destruction. The film celebrates the power of performance and the unshakeable spirit of Ukrainian artists.
Final Day of the 2026 EU Film Festival: Democracy, Community and [Space] Aliens!
Teen Angst
Ukraine/Germany
2025
Director: Inga Pylypchuk
Documentary, 37 MIN
Nine young Ukrainian women document life in a war zone with honesty, humor, fear, and resilience. Their collaborative desktop film captures what coming-of-age looks like when the world is on fire.
2nd Film: Kyiv Theater, Island of Hope
France/Ukraine
2024
Director: Duccio Bellugi-Vannuccini & Thomas Briat
Documentary, 110 MIN
A legendary French theater director brings a workshop to wartime Kyiv, igniting a creative refuge amid destruction. The film celebrates the power of performance and the unshakeable spirit of Ukrainian artists.
Join us for our weekly Global Distinction Drop-In Hours on Tuesdays from 3-4 pm in the Global Hub! Come learn how to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market, get the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receive special recognition at graduation, and stand out to prospective employers.
Join Brazil Nuts in the Global Hub for weekly Bate-Papo Conversation Hours to meet other students and to practice Portuguese of all levels!
Bate-Papo Conversation Hours are every Monday during Spring semester, starting January 26 and ending April 20.
Hosted by Brazil Nuts
Join the German Club for weekly meetings on Mondays in the Global Hub to practice German and share about German culture!
Hosted by the German Club
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
Join the Arabic Club in the Global Hub every other Wednesday during Spring semester, starting January 28, to practice Arabic language, structured by varying geographic dialects and level of speaker proficiency!
Hosted by the Arabic Club
Pitt students: Join Kya Baat Hai, a Hindi-Urdu conversational club that practices language and celebrates South Asian culture, for weekly conversation hours!
Join us for our weekly Global Distinction Drop-In Hours on Tuesdays from 3-4 pm in the Global Hub! Come learn how to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market, get the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receive special recognition at graduation, and stand out to prospective employers.
Join Brazil Nuts in the Global Hub for weekly Bate-Papo Conversation Hours to meet other students and to practice Portuguese of all levels!
Bate-Papo Conversation Hours are every Monday during Spring semester, starting January 26 and ending April 20.
Hosted by Brazil Nuts
Join the German Club for weekly meetings on Mondays in the Global Hub to practice German and share about German culture!
Hosted by the German Club
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
The Global Appalachian Reading Group for Spring 2026 examines the complex intersections of regional identity, connectedness and disconnectedness to lived spaces, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. Through thoughtful engagement with The Appalachian Trail by Philip D'Anieri, No Last Place to Rest by Dineo Skosana, and Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, participants will explore the spaces that comprise and define Appalachia, reflect on the theme of dispossession within the context of Appalachia, and discuss global climate change through displaced species that find a home in Appalachia. This reading group invites participants to connect local narratives with global contexts, fostering deeper understanding and critical conversations about place, space, identity, sustainability, and the future of Appalachian communities.
The series theme is Spaces. Participation in all three events in the series is not required but encouraged. All events will take place from (please see dates below) 1:30-3:00pm (EST) in 4217 Posvar Hall. Copies of the books will be available in the Global Studies Center for local registrants to pick up. Please contact Veronica Dristas at dristas@pitt.edu with questions.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
Join the Ukrainian Culture Club for a meeting in the Global Hub as they welcome new members and invite fellow students to join the club and embrace Ukrainian culture, language, and advocacy!
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch to the Global Hub every Thursday to chat with the Department of French and Italian and practice Italian!
Tavola Italiana will meet every Thursday during Spring semester, from January 15 to April 23, EXCEPT on January 29, February 5, February 12, and March 12.
Hosted by the Department of French and Italian
Part of the Socialist Studies Seminar series
Hirsh Reles, the "last native Yiddish-writer in Belarus," produced a large oeuvre in Yiddish, Belarusian, and Russian. His Yiddish-language works give vivid accounts of the remnants of Jewish life and cutlure in postwar Belarus. Reles tells the stories of those who survived genocide and war and live in a region—the former Pale of Jewish Settlement—that has been shaped by imperial and Soviet natioanlity policies, moderniztaion, and postwar efforts to rebuild. This paper, part of a book project on the legacies of World War II and the Holocaust in Belarus, introduces Reles' work and proposes a reading attentive to the temporal and spatial dimensions of literary production and historical memory.
The Socialist Studies Seminar is co-sponsored by the Carnegie Mellon University Department of History and the University of Pittsburgh Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. For further information, contact Wendy Goldman (goldman@andrew.cmu.edu) or Alissa Klots (alissaklots@pitt.edu).
This professional development workshop series is designed for K-12 educators seeking to deepen their understanding of global issues through literature. This year, we will explore the theme of “The U.S. in the World.” Through global and regional perspectives, we will discuss narratives of a “Global United States,” where the U.S. role in the world and its relationship with other countries and regions is informed by transnational narratives and dialogues shaped by global trends such as migration, environmental issues, human rights, and human conditions. By exploring compelling stories from diverse cultural perspectives, educators will gain insights into the complexities of this theme, its impact on individuals and communities, and how to engage students in meaningful discussions around these topics.
Each session features a carefully selected book, paired with historically contextualized presentations, interactive discussions, teaching strategies, and cross-disciplinary activities to inspire classroom implementation.
The workshop for February 19, 2026 will focus on the book, "Messy Roots," by Laura Gao.
Sessions this year will take place virtually on Thursday evenings from 6:00-7:30 p.m. (ET). Three Act 48 credit hours (for PA educators) and a copy of the book are provided for each session.
For more information and to register, please go to: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/global/GILS
Pitt students: Join Kya Baat Hai, a Hindi-Urdu conversational club that practices language and celebrates South Asian culture, for weekly conversation hours!
Join us for our weekly Global Distinction Drop-In Hours on Tuesdays from 3-4 pm in the Global Hub! Come learn how to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market, get the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receive special recognition at graduation, and stand out to prospective employers.
Join Brazil Nuts in the Global Hub for weekly Bate-Papo Conversation Hours to meet other students and to practice Portuguese of all levels!
Bate-Papo Conversation Hours are every Monday during Spring semester, starting January 26 and ending April 20.
Hosted by Brazil Nuts
Join the German Club for weekly meetings on Mondays in the Global Hub to practice German and share about German culture!
Hosted by the German Club
In March 1974, Lt. Onoda Hiroo emerged from the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang, where he had been hiding for almost three decades after the end of the Pacific War. He immediately became a worldwide media sensation as an exemplar of samurai-like devotion to duty. Moved by his story and the tragedy of a life wasted for a fruitless war, jazz composer Toshiko Akiyoshi dedicated a composition to him. Entitled “Kogun” (lone soldier), the piece drew on thematic and narrative elements of medieval nō theater, situated within a jazz orchestral setting, to highlight this tragedy, thereby bringing to fruition her desire to create a seamless “blend” (yūgō) of Japanese music and the jazz idiom. This presentation also blends conventional cultural historical and musical analysis to argue for the landmark status of “Kogun” within jazz history.
E. Taylor Atkins is Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at Northern Illinois University. His major publications include Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band’s Kogun (2024); A History of Popular Culture in Japan, From the Seventeenth Century to the Present (second edition, 2022); Primitive Selves: Koreana in the Japanese Colonial Gaze, 1910-1945 (2010); Jazz Planet (editor, 2003); and Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan (2001), winner of the Association for Asian Studies’ John Whitney Hall Prize. He also plays bass for the Jazz in Progress Big Band and the Wild Blue Ukulele Orchestra and produces and hosts House of Funk on Hot Rocks Radio.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Hosted by the French Club
Join the Arabic Club in the Global Hub every other Wednesday during Spring semester, starting January 28, to practice Arabic language, structured by varying geographic dialects and level of speaker proficiency!
Hosted by the Arabic Club
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch to the Global Hub every Thursday to chat with the Department of French and Italian and practice Italian!
Tavola Italiana will meet every Thursday during Spring semester, from January 15 to April 23, EXCEPT on January 29, February 5, February 12, and March 12.
Hosted by the Department of French and Italian
Celebrate 100 years of the University of Pittsburgh’s Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program (NRIEP) with the grand opening of two new exhibits at the University of Pittsburgh Library System’s Hillman Library!
Read the Room! Uncovering the Italian Room's Transnational Traces, curated by Dr. Lina Insana, Associate Professor in the Department of French and Italian, and students in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences.
The Women Behind the Walls, curated by Joanna Conings, PhD candidate in the Department of French and Italian.
This milestone event honors a century of global understanding and cultural exchange fostered by the NRIEP at the University of Pittsburgh. Hear remarks from key partners in NRIEP and the University Library System (ULS) and explore rare and unique materials in ULS’s University Archives that document the history of these iconic rooms.
Visit the exhibits in the Hyland Gallery from February 2026- September 2026. For more details about these displays, visit https://www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/events/history-program-archives-sp... and https://library.pitt.edu/asc-exhibits.
For more information about the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs Centennial celebration and related events across the University, visit https://www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/100years.
Hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program and University Library System.
Please let us know if you require an accommodation in order to participate in this event. Accommodations may include live captioning, ASL interpreters, and/or captioned media and accessible documents from recorded events. At least 5 days in advance is recommended.
Pitt students: Join Kya Baat Hai, a Hindi-Urdu conversational club that practices language and celebrates South Asian culture, for weekly conversation hours!
