Film

Explore Madison’s art-house screenings and the adventurous corners of local cinema.

In a dusty, desert landscape, four cowboys sit on horses in an askew vertical row extending from the foreground into the middleground of the frame so that each of their bodies is visible. Each man stares down at something in their hands.

Sam Peckinpah’s Westerns serve as autobiographies for a man out of time

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March 5, 2025

UW Cinematheque celebrates the maverick director's centennial throughout March with three Saturday features that kick off with "The Wild Bunch" on March 8.

Latest in Film
In a large, brightly lit room, several people sit and stare forward at a man holding a microphone and talking in front of a projection screen.
Cultural assimilation and reciprocity in Nathan Deming’s “February”
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February 19, 2025

The Wisconsin native and his Golden Badger-winning film return to Madison for a special encore screening and Q&A at UW Cinematheque on March 2.

A blue-tinted image of an unsteady bridge with a tanker truck in the middle, tilting to one side as if nearly collapsing the ropes and planks due to its weight. A man squats awkwardly in front of the truck with his back to the camera.
The spellbinding, suspenseful adventure of “Sorcerer” is life-changing
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February 5, 2025

William Friedkin's undersung 1977 film screens in a DCP restoration at UW Cinematheque on February 7.

A photo shows a close-up of an entree of West African cuisine served on a wooden platter with three distinct sections. In the foreground, the main course of chicken suya with plentiful onions and peppers; in the background, seasoned "fat" rice. On the side to the left is a small white cup of pickled vegetables.
Multisensory moviegoing, part deux: the gourmet’s digest
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February 3, 2025

Celebrate the new year and start of Madison movie season with culturally enriching culinary adventures.

A simple image collage that features, on the right, an older man, wearing a dark-green, army fatigue-like outfit and an eyepatch over his left eye. He smokes a cigar and points to the left at the image on the left: a recent screenshot of the Horizon Line Madison archive page dating back to December 26, 2024.
The Horizon Line Madison assembles the big-screen picture, from top to bottom
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January 23, 2025

Alex Lovendahl's new Substack project offers Madisonians a centralized resource for weekly movie screenings.

A simple rectangular image collage that features stills from four films. At top left, a man observes the royal treasures of Benin in "Dahomey." At top right, Patrick (Josh O'Connor) and Tashi (Zendaya) share a heated moment at night in "Challengers." At bottom right, Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) observes herself in the bathroom mirror in "The Substance." And at bottom left, gym rats Jackie (Katy O'Brian) and Lou (Kristen Stewart) contemplate something serious in "Love Lies Bleeding."
We contained multitudes: an uncontained year in cinema
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January 20, 2025

In this inclusive diary compendium, 10 writers share their thoughts and experiences on the 2024 year in moviegoing.

A surrealistic aerial view of part of the Amazon that renders trees in a burnt orange color in the foreground. The background features a more barren, deforested, scorched landscape in various shades of green, black, and white.
“Broken Spectre” reframes the Amazon as an urgent, revisionist Western
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December 16, 2024

Richard Mosse's experimental environmental film is showing in MMoCA's main second-floor gallery through mid-February 2025.

An arts gallery space is packed with people for a digital screening on a projection screen at the front of the room. The crowd all faces forward at the animated blue and white images on the screen. The far side of the galleries behind the attendees is mood-lit in a neon green.
Centering and illuminating the film conversation
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December 11, 2024

Our writers found common dialogue across a variety of film spaces.

The main character of Anora is centered in the frame, dancing joyously with her eyes closed. She wears a sparkling red dress in a room with others bathed in a magenta-colored light.
The splenetic slapstick and severe stakes of “Anora”
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December 2, 2024

Sara Batkie and Edwanike Harbour discuss the twists and turns of Sean Baker's latest award-winning dramedy.

Teenage Connie Wyatt (Laura Dern) stands in the foreground at a close-up. She wears a white halter top and has a perturbed expression. Behind her, slightly out of focus, an older man (Treat Williams) in sunglasses and a purple shirt points threateningly.
“Smooth Talk” steadily constructs a devastating portrait of the loss of innocence
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November 13, 2024

Joyce Chopra's 1985 film adaptation of a Joyce Carol Oates short story screens at the Chazen Museum of Art on November 17.