Join the Arabic Club for biweekly meetings in the Global Hub during Fall 2025 semester, and to practice Arabic language, structured by varying geographic dialects and level of speaker proficiency!

Attention: Undergraduate students! Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Join the Arabic Club for biweekly meetings in the Global Hub during Fall 2025 semester, and to practice Arabic language, structured by varying geographic dialects and level of speaker proficiency!

Attention: Undergraduate students! Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

In Blue Sun Palace’s Chinese-speaking Queens, Cheung is a migrant laborer and Didi works at a massage parlor with other Chinese immigrants. Among them is Amy (Ke-Xi Wu), a gifted cook who dreams of opening her own restaurant. When Didi is tragically killed, Cheung and Amy form an unexpected bond as they navigate their grief and search for connection. Blue Sun Palace offers a quiet, realistic portrayal of immigrant life in New York, where English is rarely spoken and interactions with non-immigrant Americans are largely commodified. While there are daily indignities foisted upon the immigrants, Blue Sun Palace is no misery showcase. Intimacy and warmth co-exist with economic anxieties and deep grief that are articulated with uncommon intelligence and understanding of how adults endure any given day. Director Constance Tsang gives us confident direction in her debut feature, bringing a fresh exploration to how American newcomers might find comfort and solace in one another in an otherwise alienating land.

Join us in the Global Hub for to meet other students and to practice Portuguese of all levels!

Bate-Papo meet on Mondays, during Fall 2025, starting September 8 and ending December 15, EXCEPT on November 24.

Join German Club at Pitt weekly meetings to improve language skills and cultural knowledge of German speaking regions!

German Club will meet in the Global Hub every Monday during Fall 2025 semester, starting September 8 and ending December 1, EXCEPT on November 24.

The 2025 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, a love story set in a traditional Maharashtrian village, follows Anand, a city dweller who, during a 10-day mourning period for his father, rekindles a tender bond with his childhood friend. At the beginning of Cactus Pears, protagonist Anand has to leave his urban world to mourn his beloved father in his ancestral home, where he is inundated with memories and his relations question his marital status. Anand finds himself drawn to his childhood friend Balya, as their personal and emotional struggles bring them closer during Anand’s 10-day mourning period. Cactus Pears is a refreshingly intimate film that explores queer life in rural India in a new way. Far from imagining the region as inherently hostile to queerness, the film explores the deep complexities around family obligation, loss, and desire. By casting local actors and filming in his ancestral village, Cactus Pears becomes a semi-autobiographical portrait of love and hope found. even in the most unusual of places.

Winner, Sundance Grand Jury Prize 2025

Drop by 810 William Pitt Union anytime between 12pm and 3pm to speak with a representative from SFS (School for Field Studies) about their programming, studying abroad, and more!

European Studies Center Brown Bag Lunch and Learn Series

In 2022, the Meloni government renewed plans to connect Sicily and the Italian mainland— plans that had lain dormant for more than a decade—and build the largest single-span suspension bridge in the world. What does this most recent chapter of the bridge’s story tell us about Sicily’s place in the Italian nation, in Europe, and in frameworks of integration
and security? And how do the politics of this moment resonate with earlier plans to bind this notoriously “seismic” island to more “stable” ground?

Bio:
Dr. Lina Insana
Associate Prof of Italian
Director of Italian Graduate Studies
Italian Program Coordinator

Lina Insana’s research and teaching focuses on modern and contemporary Italian cultural production. Most of her work on Italian writer and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi is concerned with textual mediation, translation, and adaptation; newer research—on Sicilian cultural belonging and manifestations of italianità in the American interwar period (1919-1939)—seeks to interrogate formations of transnational identity at the margins of conventionally accepted definitions of Italianness.

Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Fall semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!

UPDATE: On September 10 (only), the French Club and the French Department will have a joint event in the Global Hub, from 5:30 to 7 pm.

The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Fall 2025, EXCEPT on November 25 and November 26.

In the feature film debut of director Kondo Ryota, winner of the Grand Prize at the Japan Horror Film Competition, and produced by legendary J-Horror director, Shimizu Takashi, this film’s quiet horror allows viewers to experience slow-burning dread trapped in the coarse image of a VHS tape. One day, Keita unexpectedly receives an old videotape from his mother. As the tape plays, the grainy images reveal the moment of his brother’s mysterious disappearance years earlier forcing Keita to reckon with a past he has long tried to forget. As unforgettable and ghastly as this revelation might be, Keita decides to confront the incident once more and retrace the past, heading to the ruins of a mountain that should never have existed.

Attention: Undergraduate students! Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Please join the staff of the Andy Warhol Museum, as they provide an overview of Warhol's blotted line technique. Registration is required due to limited space.

Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-7 pm during Fall semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!

UPDATE: On September 10 (only), the French Club and the French Department will have a joint event in the Global Hub, from 5:30 to 7 pm.

The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Fall 2025, EXCEPT on November 25 and November 26.

In conservative Malaysia, the mere existence of a baby hatch—in which one can safely abandon newborns– remains a whispered taboo, condemned by the rising tide of social conservatism that brands it as an enabler of moral decay. Lai Sum, Fatimah, Kam, and Nurul, committed employees of a Kuala Lumpur baby hatch, navigate a maze of societal opposition to empower women from diverse backgrounds grappling with the complex notion of bodily autonomy. As Ramadan ends, a dire situation unfolds when Siew Man, an underage girl, teeters on the brink of a life-altering decision. Lai Sum endeavors to rescue her from the depths of despair. However, her well-intentioned intervention unwittingly entangles them both in the perilous currents of theocratic and patriarchal forces, threatening to dictate their fates.

Nominee, Tokyo International Film Festival best film 2024

In a village in a remote valley on the northern border of Xinjiang, China, a lonely Kazakh boy named Arsin nurses fading memories of his family. He finds solace in the company of plants. The arrival of Meiyu, a Han Chinese girl, is like the discovery of a plant he has never seen before, bringing him comfort and a strange sense of wonder. Together, they grow like two distinct species, rooted in a shared corner of the world, imagining the valley as an endless ocean. But one day, Arsin learns that Meiyu will be moving to Shanghai, which is 4,792 kilometres away – a distance he struggles to comprehend. She is headed to a city where the ocean actually exists. Arsin is left alone to grapple with the quiet shifts in their small, fragile world.

2025 Berlin Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus Winner, Best Film

Two Shows: Friday, Sept 26 at 1:00 PM (Univ. of Pitt, G24) and Wednesday, Sept 24 at 7PM (Mt. Lebanon Library)

Join the Arabic Club for biweekly meetings in the Global Hub during Fall 2025 semester, and to practice Arabic language, structured by varying geographic dialects and level of speaker proficiency!

Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

Tavola Italiana will meet on Thursdays during Fall 2025, EXCEPT on November 27.

Practice Hindi and play games with the Less-Commonly-Taught-Languages Center and students! No knowledge of Hindi required.

There will be three meetings in the Global Hub during Fall semester, each from 6-7 pm:
- September 25
- October 23
- November 20

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.

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.

The September 25, 2025 workshop will focus on the book, "Lark Ascending," by Silas House.

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!

Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Thursdays, during the Fall semester, EXCEPT on Thursday, November 27.

In Sokcho, a small seaside village in South Korea, a young woman, Soo-Ha, lives in a bit of a rut, rhythmed by visits to her mother, a fishmonger, and her relationship with her boyfriend, Jun-Ho. When a French man named Yan Kerrand arrives in the boarding house where Soo-Ha works, it awakens within her questions about her own identity, and that of her French father, of whom she knows almost nothing. As winter settles over the town, Soo-Ha and Kerrand will observe and gauge each other, trying to communicate any way they can – through cooking for one and drawing for the other – delicately weaving a fragile bond between them.

Hiro and his wife Sono run an okonomiyaki restaurant which employs ex-youth offenders to help support their rehabilitation. Since an incident with a former employee a year ago, Hiro has been hounded by hate speech online. Nevertheless, he sticks to his principles at the restaurant. When he interviews the 18-year-old Yuto in the detention center, the young man tells him: “I want the chance to start over!”, and Hiro hires him. After receiving his first pay packet, Yuto returns to his hometown to buy his father a gift but discovers that he has left town. Yuto’s mother already abandoned him when he was a child and now his father is gone, too. While out at a club, Yuto becomes fascinated with Yukiha, a 17-year-old dancer at the club who was also recently released from juvenile detention.

Berlin Film Festival Panorama 2025

In a village in a remote valley on the northern border of Xinjiang, China, a lonely Kazakh boy named Arsin nurses fading memories of his family. He finds solace in the company of plants. The arrival of Meiyu, a Han Chinese girl, is like the discovery of a plant he has never seen before, bringing him comfort and a strange sense of wonder. Together, they grow like two distinct species, rooted in a shared corner of the world, imagining the valley as an endless ocean. But one day, Arsin learns that Meiyu will be moving to Shanghai, which is 4,792 kilometres away – a distance he struggles to comprehend. She is headed to a city where the ocean actually exists. Arsin is left alone to grapple with the quiet shifts in their small, fragile world.

2025 Berlin Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus Winner, Best Film

Two Shows: Friday, Sept 26 at 1:00 PM (Univ. of Pitt, G24) and Wednesday, Sept 24 at 7PM (Mt. Lebanon Library)

Are you part of the LGBTQ+ community? Are you interested in studying abroad? Come by 810 William Pitt Union for a presentation and discussion with staff members and students about safe practices and expectations for LGBTQ+ students studying abroad. Bring all of your questions!

After World War II, the USSR's leaders relied heavily on construction materials mined and produced in recently liberated territories to rebuild the country's ruined cities. This paper traces the material networks linking Soviet cities to forests, quarries, and factories supplying the wood, marble, brick, and cement integral to Soviet rebuilding. Focusing on the Aseri Brickworks and Kunda Cement Factory, both located along Estonia's northern coast, the paper examines the interplay between Soviet occupation and materials extraction. Part of the Socialist Studies Seminar series.

At the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week winner A Useful Ghost (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, 2025), we learn that March has lost his beloved wife Nat, whose work in the family factory has left her—and many other workers—poisoned. Their relationship gets a second chance, however, when she comes back to him, reincarnated as a vacuum cleaner. His family is less pleased by her reincarnation and finds their rather unconventional love disturbing. Anxious to be the good daughter-in-law again, Nat decides to become useful by setting herself against the other ghosts who have revenge on their minds. As she becomes involved in banishing other spirits, the question of a ghost’s usefulness clashes with Thailand’s recent authoritarian history. With its tonal shifts and fractious genre changes, A Useful Ghost should not work. But the fact that it does—and does so brilliantly—is a credit to the debut film director’s sense of humor and razor-sharp political vision.  

Toronto International Film Festival 2025, Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize 2025

Jin Aixia (Chang) has two daughters, but Emma (Karena Lam), who grew up in New York, and Fan Zuer (Eugenie Liu), who grew up in Taipei, never knew about each other until well into adulthood. When Zuer and her partner decide to try and get pregnant via in vitro fertilization, they wind up travelling to the US for treatments. Tragically, the couple die there in an accident, but their embryo remains alive and well — and Aixia is left as its legal guardian. Arriving in New York overwhelmed with grief, she is faced with the choice to donate, terminate, or find a surrogate for the embryo. But after a life spent feeling like she’s fallen short as a mother, who is she to decide what to do with her deceased daughter’s unborn child?

2024 Toronto International Film Festival Platform Award winner, 2024 Golden Horse winner, best original screenplay

When A Better Tomorrow debuted in 1986, it spawned the Hong Kong gangster cinematic craze, propelled the careers of John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat to international stardom and made Hong Kong cool an aesthetic across the world. We are celebrating the 2025 4k of this film and the entire Golden Princess Collection at the Harris Theater.  In the original HK gangster film– A Better Tomorrow, two estranged brothers — Leslie Cheung’s fresh-faced cop Kit, and Ti lung’s jaded criminal Ho — struggle to reconnect after Ho serves three years in prison. As Ho attempts to stay out of gangster life, both are drawn into crime, violence and the Hong Kong underworld. Not only does Woo’s A Better Tomorrow set the gold standard for intense corridor shootouts but also laid the foundation for a stylistic template that would resonate throughout Woo’s illustrious career.