The Cinematheque, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s dedicated screening facility for international cinema history and fine films, returns this week for its 2026 slate — filling a niche since the 1990s by promoting movies audiences in Madison might otherwise miss.
Olivier Laxe's 2025 film “Sirât,” starring Sergi López, Brúno Nuñez and Stefania Gadda, will open the set on Thursday, followed by a showing of Todd Hayes’ 1995 film “Safe” on Friday, Roman Polanski’s “An officer and a spy” on Saturday and Susan Seidelman’s “Desperately seeking Susan” on Sunday.
Jim Healy, Director of Programming at the Cinematheque, chooses the movies that end up on the big screen. Healy said the Cinematheque looks for movies from all throughout cinema history and all corners of the globe.
“Sometimes good movies are brought to us through a proposed partnership with another campus department or community organization/concern,” Healy said. “Sometimes some movies are more relevant, like our screening of ‘Slap Shot’ last January in honor of Paul Newman's centennial.”
Lea Jacobs and David Bordwell, both film professors in the Department of Communication Arts, started the Cinematheque in 1998.
Former Cinematheque production assistant James Kreul said Jacobs played an instrumental role in establishing the cinemahouse.
“[She] wrote grant proposals and secured the resources, not only to launch the UW Cinematheque, but also to fund a graduate project assistantship to coordinate its programming,” Kreul wrote on his personal website.
In the beginning, to delineate the Cinematheque from earlier campus film societies of the 1960s and ‘70s, Cinematheque programmers planned to regularly screen movies on the then-standard exhibition format of commercial movie theater’s 35mm film.
“Those [older] societies mainly showed 16mm prints, and they charged admission a lot of the time,” Healy said.
In comparison, the Cinematheque’s shows have always been free for anyone.
After Digital Film Package (DCP) cameras — both 2D and later in 3D — became the standard format, upgrading to such equipment became a priority — as was expanding service.
“Programming has gone from twice a week to sometimes four days a week, with premieres on Thursday nights and frequent Sunday afternoon screenings at the Chazen Museum of Art,” Healy said.
When asked about what he hopes audiences come away with after visiting the Cinematheque, Healy indicated his desire for audiences to come away with a sense of artistic enjoyment.
“I hope our audiences realize they've seen a work of art,” Healy said. “I hope they see the value in experiencing art.”
Ted Hyngstrom is the Podcast Editor for The Daily Cardinal. Alongside directing all audio storytelling, Ted hosts the Cardinal Call, a weekly campus news feature segment airing on local radio station WORT 89.9 FM. He also covers current events for the campus news desk.
