International Film Festival
Join us for the 11th celebration of the World Languages and Literatures International Film Festival featuring international comedies from around the world. This year's theme, "InternationLOL Films: Humor Across Borders," showcases the universal language of comedy through films in Arabic, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian, all shown with English subtitles. Enjoy diverse international films, filmmaker and actor Q&As, pre-screening receptions, a film vault tour and special cultural events. Attendees can win festival prizes by attending multiple screenings! Be sure to scan the QR code at each screening check-in to be eligible. Unless otherwise noted, all screenings are FREE and open to the public.
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Festival Screenings
Week 1: February 10–13, 2026
Tuesday, February 10 – Opening night: Stilyagi (Стиляги) / Hipsters (Russia)
Frances Anne Moody Hall Atrium and Auditorium. The opening night will feature Wrenn Schmidt, a notable alumna and stage, television, and film actress. She will share her journey from studying acting and Russian at SMU to landing key film and television roles. The festival’s theme, "InternationLOL Films: Humor Across Borders," will be highlighted by her presentation on “The Universal Language of Comedy.” This opening event is presented as part of the Scott-Hawkins lecture series.
5:30 PM - Guest speaker Wrenn Schmidt, SMU alumna (B.F.A. Theatre Studies, ‘05) and actress (TV: For All Mankind, The Americans, The Looming Tower, Boardwalk Empire; film: Nuremberg, Nope, The Starling Girl, 13 Hours, Client 9). Pre-screening reception hosted by the Society for Russian Studies.
7:00 PM - Film Screening Stilyagi (Стиляги) / Hipsters (Russia). Director: Valeriy Todorovsky. With delightful retro-musical scenes and cinematography parodying the style of Soviet realism, Hipsters is a lush rebel-with-a-cause romance full of intricately choreographed toe-tapping numbers and plenty of satirical social commentary.
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Wednesday, February 11: Campeones / Champions (Spain)
A basketball coach is sentenced to community service, forced to work with a team of mentally disabled players.
Time: 6:00 PM screening
Location: Hamon Arts Library, Jeff Gordon Film and Collection Room
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Thursday, February 12: Elite Match (short film, 14 minutes) + 抓娃娃 / Successor (China)
Time: 5:30PM reception
"Elite Match" is a short film about Lily, a single mom and immigrant, who embarks on a journey to find love. Successor is a 2024 Chinese comedy-drama about an affluent couple who decide to conceal their wealth in order to train their son to be a capable family successor.
6:00PM film screenings
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
Pre-screening reception sponsored by the Chinese Language Club.
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Friday, February 13
Special Event 1: Screening Elite Match (2022) and virtual Q&A with filmmaker.
Film: Elite Match (Short film, 14 minutes) + virtual Q&A with the director, Kathy Meng
Time: 12:30 PM–1:30 PM
Location: Hamon Arts Library, Hawn Conference Room
Join us for a light light, screening of the short film "Elite Match" (15 min, Mandarin/English) and Q&A with the filmmaker. Sponsored by the Asian studies and Asian American Experiences research cluster of the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute.
Film synopsis: Dating at any age can be tough. As an immigrant and single mom, nearly impossible, but Lily is determined to find love for herself, even if her heart and mind is always preoccupied with her daughter. More here: https://www.kathymeng.fun/films/elite-match
About the filmmaker: Kathy Meng is a Chinese-American writer/director who was born in Philadelphia and raised in Beijing and Massachusetts before studying film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her films are rooted in realism, depicting modern Chinese women who long for intimacy that they can’t find as outsiders in American society. Her third short film “Elite Match” (2022) was screened at the Asian American International Film Festival, CAAMFest, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, New York Shorts International Film Festival, NewFilmmakers LA, Queens World Film Festival, Twin Cities Film Festival, and others. “Elite Match” received the Audience Award at DC ShortsFest and the Roy W. Dean Grant’s Hot Films in the Making Award.
Sponsored by SMU Libraries, SMU English, SMU ESL, Chinese Language Club, DCII, & the Dallas Chapter of the Fulbright Association, and AAPASA.
Special Event 2: A guided tour of SMU’s film vault. Spots are limited and registration is required.
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Hamon Arts Library
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Week 2: February 17–19, 2026
Tuesday, February 17: Kagi-dorobô no mesoddo (鍵泥棒のメソッド) / Key of Life (Japan)
To escape his troubles, a failed actor switches identities with a stranger at a bath house, only to find himself filling the shoes of an elite assassin.
Time: 6 PM reception, 6:30 PM screening
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
Pre-screening reception with refreshments sponsored by Mr. Grant Ogata, President of Japan America Society DFW
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Wednesday, February 18: Carving the Divine documentary film screening + Zoom Q&A with the director
Presented by: Nishiki Sugawara-Beda, Associate Professor of Art and Cox Family Endowed Professor of Painting and Drawing at the Division of Art, Meadows
Time: 6:00PM – 8:00PM
Location: O’Donnell Hall, Owen Arts Center
Carving the Divine is a documentary film that offers a rare look into a 1400-year-old Buddhist woodcarving tradition and the practitioners struggling to preserve its legacy in a rapidly changing Japan. https://www.carvingthedivine.com/
More info here: https://calendar.smu.edu/site/meadows/event/carving-the-divine-film-screening/
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Thursday, February 19: 重慶森林 (Chóngqìng Sēnlín) / Chungking Express (Hong Kong)
Time: 7:00 PM screening
Location: Angelika Film Center (Dallas)
Program: The SMU Libraries Student-Curated Film Series, "In The Mood For Wong Kar-Wai"
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Week 3: February 24–26, 2026
Tuesday, February 24: Le sens de l’humour / A Sense of Humour (Québec).
In this Canadian crime comedy, stand-up comedians Luc and Marco tour small theaters in Quebec, often mocking members of their audiences, until one evening they pick on the wrong victim and end up becoming victims of a kidnapping. Chaos and laughs ensue as they try to outwit their captor.
Time: 6:00 PM screening
Location: Caruth 147
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Wednesday, February 25: El Bolero de Raquel / Raquel's Shoeshiner (Mexico)
A kind-hearted shoeshiner is left to care for his deceased friend's young son.
Time: 6:00 PM screening
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium
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Week 4: March 3–5, 2026
Tuesday, March 3: Männer / Men (Germany)
A 1985 German comedy that explores two contrasting male archetypes, the successful businessman and the free-spirited artist.
Time: 6:00 PM reception, 7:00 PM screening
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
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Wednesday, March 4: Un divan à Tunis / Arab Blues (Tunisia, France)
Selma, a psychoanalyst, encounters a colorful cast of new patients after returning home to Tunisia to open a practice.
Time: 6:00 PM screening
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
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Thursday, March 5: Un cuento chino / Chinese Takeaway (Argentina)
Time: 6:00 PM screening
Location: Caruth 147
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Week 5: March 10–12, 2026
Tuesday, March 10: Pranzo di Ferragosto / Mid-August Lunch (Italy)
At the center of this award-winning comedy is Gianni, a middle-aged man struggling to make ends meet while living with and caring for his 93-year-old mother. To avoid eviction, he agrees to look after the building manager's mother and then unwittingly finds himself taking care of several other mothers while everyone else leaves town for a summer holiday.
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
Pre-screening reception with refreshments provided by the Italian Club
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Wednesday, March 11: Divorzio all’italiana / Divorce Italian Style (Italy)
In this classic Italian comedy, which won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Marcello Mastroianni plays a Sicilian baron who must find a way to circumvent the illegality of divorce in order to get rid of his wife and marry a younger relative.
Time: 6:00 PM reception, 6:30 PM screening
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
Pre-screening reception with refreshments provided by the Italian Club
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Thursday, March 12 – Closing Night: La famille Bélier / The Bélier Family (France)
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium & Atrium
A heartwarming and humorous story about Paula, the only hearing member of a deaf family, who discovers her singing talent and faces the difficult decision to pursue her dreams or stay to help her family. Time: 5:30PM reception and closing remarks, 6:00PM screening
Closing reception sponsored by the Alliance Française of Dallas
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Any person who requires a reasonable accommodation on the basis of a disability in order to participate in this program should contact the Festival Chair at awilliamstutt@smu.edu at least one week prior to the event to arrange for the accommodation.
SMU Visitor Parking
Visitors can use self-pay and park locations on campus using ParkMobile or purchase visitor permits by the day as a guest. The Visitor Parking Map is available for download through our website.
The 2026 World Languages and Literatures International Film Festival is made possible thanks to the generous support of its sponsors:
Alliance Française - French Club - Italian Club - Spanish Club - Russian Club - German Club - ESL Department - Dallas Goethe Center - SMU Department of English - G. William Jones Film and Video Collection - SMU Libraries - SMU AAPASA -Scott-Hawkins Lecture Fund - Fulbright Association–Dallas Chapter - Meadows Film Studies Program - Owens Program
Click Here to Become a Sponsor!
