đŹ International Film at Sarratt Cinema đ
FREE screenings on Thursdays | Post-film discussions with guest presenters đïž Join us for global cinema!đż
Join us for our very last iLens of Spring 2026âŠ
Japan (2023) Dir: Hirokazu Koreeda
When a single motherâs young son starts to behave strangely at home, his mother feels that there is something wrong at school. Discovering that a teacher may be responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what is going on with her son. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher, and child, the truth gradually emerges, revealing a complex story of misunderstanding, hidden friendships, bullying, and the search for truth, challenging initial perceptions and exploring themes of societal pressure, identity, and acceptance. Japanese with English subtitles. 127 min.
USA (2025) Dir: Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Composed primarily of contraband cell phone footage taken by incarcerated men at correctional facilities across the state, this film exposes the inhumane conditions, systemic injustice, and brutal treatment of those behind bars in the Alabama prison system told through their own voices and stories. Focusing on the death of inmate Steven Davis, his motherâs quest for justice, and incarcerated leaders organizing for change using contraband phones, the film expertly weaves the pressing issues of prison privatization, inmate slave labor, government corruption, and extreme violence together to give a real sense of the abhorrent conditions of our fellow human beings. English. 115 min.
Presented by Kirsty Clark, PhD, MPH; Assistant Professor of MHS, Public Policy Studies, and Psychology and Human Development.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Research on Inequality and Health and the George Barrett Social Justice Program at Vanderbilt Law School.
Join us for our next iLens screening, UNTIL THE STONES SPEAK.
Korea (2022) Dir: Kim Kyungman
Wrongly incarcerated for crimes they did not commit during the 1948 Jeju Uprising, a group of five women finally lift the veil on what actually transpired. The Jeju April 3 massacre not only took the lives of a tenth of the entire Jeju Island population, but it also turned the innocent into prisoners without trial. It was only seventy years later that they were acquitted through a retrial. As the five grandmothers tell their stories of the unspeakable loss and tragedy, the horrific scenes of their experiences are brought back to life. Korean with English Subtitles. 100 min.
Filmmaker will be in attendance (virtually) for a Q&A following the screening. Sponsored by the Department of Asian Studies.
Join us for SPACEWOMAN, our next iLens screening in celebration of Womenâs History Month!
Astronaut Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot and command an American spacecraft. Born on the other side of the tracks in upstate New York, she smashed many glass ceilings in the US Air Force and at NASA during her career, culminating in four increasingly dramatic and dangerous space shuttle missions. With an incredible set of archival materials, intimate interviews, and a moving score, this nail-biting film shares the emotional journey experienced by Eileenâs family and asks the philosophical question about what level of risk is acceptable in human endeavor. English. 100 min.
This screening and its post-viewing discussion will be led by Sydney Savion, Vice Chancellor for People, Culture, & Belonging at Vanderbilt. Savion is also a retired commissioned officer of the U.S. Air Force.
Screening in collaboration with the Margaret Cuninggim Womenâs Center.
Canât wait to see this film on the big screen tomorrow night!
Join us and @ilensvandy for a free community screening of REMAINING NATIVE on Tues night at 7pm at Vanderbiltâs Sarratt Cinema. Stick around for a post-screening discussion with the filmâs director, Paige Bethmann!
Winner of the Documentary Feature Special Jury Award and Audience Award at @sxsw , REMAINING NATIVE is also an official recommendation on the 2026 @thepopcornlist â an annual survey of acclaimed feature films not yet available in wide release, recommended by film festival programmers across North America.
This event is free to attend, no RSVP required. See you there!
Join us for our next iLens of the semester, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, winner of the Palme dâOr at Cannes in 2025.
Iran, France, Luxembourg (2025) Dir: Jafar Panahi
An unassuming mechanic is suddenly reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he has a chance encounter with a man he strongly suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners and they kidnap the suspected captor. But ambiguity about the manâs guilt and their shared trauma sparks a tense moral debate over revenge, justice, and mercy as they drive through Tehran in this deeply felt moral thriller, where high stakes tension combines with unexpected flurries of humor and thoughtful questions regarding persecution and revenge. Persian and Azerbaijani, with English Subtitles. 104 min.
Join the Nashville Film Festival and Vanderbilt iLens on Tuesday, February 24th for a free community screening of REMAINING NATIVE, winner of the Documentary Feature Special Jury Award and Audience Award at SXSW.
REMAINING NATIVE is a documentary told from the perspective of Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great-grandfather's escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future.
The event will include a post-screening discussion with the film's director, Paige Bethmann, moderated by Sasha Crawford-Holland, Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Arts, Communication Studies, and Climate and Environmental Studies at Vanderbilt University.
This free event will take place at 7pm in Vanderbilt's Sarratt Cinema (2301 Vanderbilt Pl, Nashville, TN 37240). Free parking is available in campus parking Lot 5A, at the corner of 21st Ave S & Terrace Pl.
Join us for our third iLens of the semester, ANGRY INUK.
Canada (2016) Dir: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
Exploring seal huntingâs vital role for Inuit communities, their dependence on sealskin income, and how global anti-sealing movements have affected their livelihoods, an Inuk filmmaker joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, the group brings its own voice into the conversation and presents themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy. Inuktitut with English subtitles. 85 min.
Screening in collaboration with the Indigenous Studies Seminar at Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities.
Join us for our second International Lens of the semester, TORI AND LOKITA! At Sarratt Cinema.
Winner of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival comes the story of seventeen-year-old Lokita and twelve-year-old Tori, two immigrantsâfrom Cameroon and Benin, respectivelyâwhose sibling-like bond is the only resource they can depend on in their struggle for survival on the margins of European society. The inseparable pair work as performers in a cheap trattoria, dealing drugs on the side for the restaurantâs abusive cook, while balancing the demands of an indifferent bureaucracy and a band of violent smugglers. French with English subtitles. 89 min.
đïžANNOUNCING: our first iLens of the spring 2026 semester!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered today as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. In this virtuosic documentary, award-winning editor and director Sam Pollard (Editor, 4 LITTLE GIRLS, MOâ BETTER BLUES; Director/Producer, EYEZ ON THE PRIZE, SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: IâVE GOTTA BE ME) lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged Kingâs activism throughout the â50s and â60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. In crafting a rich archival tapestry, featuring some revelatory restored footage of King, Pollard urges us to remember that true American progress is always hard-won.
Come to iLens in Sarratt Cinema this week at Vanderbilt University for this free screening in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
đ„đ„đ„Join us for our last iLens of the semesterâŠ
BLACK DOG đâđŠș
China (2024) Dir: Guan Hu
Emerging from a long stretch in prison for his part in a murder, Er Lang returns to his hometown on the edge of the Gobi Desert in Northwest China that teeters between desolation and demolition. He strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog while working for a local patrol team clearing the town of stray dogs before the 2008 Olympic Games. These two lonely souls embark on a new journey together, giving Lang respite from his other woes: an alcoholic father haunting the remnants of a soon-to-be-demolished zoo, and a local kingpin seeking amends for his dead nephew. Mandarin with English subtitles. 116 min.
Thursday, Nov 13. Free admission!
