Go to Wisconsin Iranian Film Festival’s webpage

In 2017, I founded the Wisconsin Iranian Film Festival with the help of some other students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The purpose of the Wisconsin Iranian Film Festival (“WIFF”) is to contribute to learnings about cultural diversity and promote dialogue between cultures by bringing Iranian films, from classics to contemporary works, to the campus. Included in our screenings are introductions and, on occasion, Q&A sessions, aimed to educate and open the floor up for discussions amongst members of the campus community regarding Iranian culture and art. We believe that by providing these films a platform in Madison, we can foster a greater sense of cultural awareness and understanding and use art’s ability to portray our common humanity as a way to forge bonds in our community.

WIFF was founded in 2017 by a group of students in Madison. The first festival was a collaboration between the UW’s Persian Student Society and WUD Film Committee, with the support of the Middle East Studies Program. The films were screened in a nice student-run theater with a capacity of 330 seats and all screenings were free and open to the public. The festival was covered by the press, especially the local newspapers, journals, and public radio. The attendance was magnificent and more than 400 people attended the screenings. This number is especially significant, because we did not have much time or money for advertisement and with a very limited marketing, we still managed to bring such big number of people, from students to staff, faculty, and community.

The first festival was significant in some other ways as well. First, we funded the festival through a very successful crowdsourcing campaign. Second, the films screened were not only prestigious and highly awarded films, such as THE SALESMAN and I’M NOT ANGRY, but also they appealed to different tastes and portrayed diverse aspects of Iranian society and culture. We received highly enthusiastic feedbacks from the attendees. The dialogue formed around the festival regarding not only Iran, but the issues of diversity and representation was very rewarding for the campus and community. This encouraged us to continue the festival and register it as a student organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

WIFF came back for its 2^nd consecutive year in February 2018, this time bigger and with a more diverse showcase of films. This time, we saw an even greater enthusiasm. We witnessed solid crowds for all screenings and there was an impressive engagement in the dialogue around the screenings. This time, we accompanied some of the screenings with Q&As regarding the films and more broadly, regarding any questions the audience had about Iran, diversity, and issues of representation.

WIFF will continue its life and aims to bring Iranian films beyond an integrated festival as well. We plan to collaborate with other RSOs as well to reach more people and engage in more diverse issues related to students and other people on the campus and in community. Iranian films with their powerful storytelling have proven to provide great platforms for such purposes.