UMGC in Europe is hosting a film festival titled “Screened History: Global Pasts in Francophone Films” at the KMC ReelTime Theater on select Thursday between January and the end of March 2026. The festival is a great opportunity for those learning French on Duolingo! 

All films are offered at no cost to the local community; you must have base access. This is a private university event open to the KMC. All films have subtitles in English. A RSVP is requested for each film on the UMGC in Europe Presents webpage. 

Over thirty-years ago, the American Historical Review asked if film threatened to usurp historical consciousness privileging the pictorial and emotional over the textual and analytical. The festival asks attendees to think about how films influence our sense of the past and how do we describe the ways films do so. “Screened History” gathers francophone films that ask audiences to reflect on how filmmakers construct pasts and make arguments about pasts for audiences.

In an associated undergrad class, students analyze how filmmakers educate viewers via staging, authenticity claims, and archival evidence about pasts. Undergrads will consider the challenges and benefits of those strategies. How does film have us reflect on the past in new ways? How do we encounter pasts unknown through films?

The festival includes documentary formats and fictionalized dramaturgies allowing attendees to think about the choices filmmakers make by crafting historical narratives . The issue that brings together films on varied themes is choices made to visualize historical events and contexts. Films are screened chronologically in relation to events documented rather than the year of release.

As attendees attend multiple screenings, they move temporarily from the more distant past to the contemporary. Films cover a wide range of historical subjects from jazz diplomacy to resistance and genocide. The film festival is presented in partnership with the Albertine Cinémathèque. Last year, grant awards went to Princeton University, Virgina Military Institute, Ohio State University, and Duke University. This year, the committee selected UMGC in Europe for an award. The award pays screening fees for up to six films for a film festival.

This festival is a unique academic enhancement for classes, students, and the community. Since 1947, UMGC in Europe has been going wherever Americans serve. Part of that academic commitment has been about bringing those who service unique educational enhancements overseas from field studies to film festivals.

This list is subject to change. Visit the UMGC Events page for sign up and details.

• Jan. 22, 2026: “No Chains, No Masters”

• Feb. 5, 2026: “Dahomey”

• Feb. 19, 2026: “Army of Shadows”

• March 5, 2026: “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat”

• March 19, 2026: “Red Island”

• March 26, 2026: “Meeting With Pol Pot”

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