SMU World Languages & Literatures

10/16/2026

Join documentary filmmaker J. Mitchell Johnson for a preview of his new film Coming Home: From Shadowland to Spiritworld, which will air nationwide on PBS on November 2nd, in honor of Indigenous Peoples Month.

The film follows the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians as they undertake an extraordinary effort to reclaim their ancestral lands on the Sonoma Coast after 170 years of displacement. Interweaving the little-known history of Russian colonization in California with a modern story of negotiation, diplomacy, and ceremony, the film shows how land repatriation becomes a powerful act of cultural renewal.

4 p.m. Reception preceding the film

5 p.m. Screening, Q/A with filmmaker following

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

This event is co-sponsored by:

G. William Jones Film & Video Collection, Hamon Arts Library
Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute’s Tribal Sovereignty & Natural Resources Research Cluster & Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Research Cluster
Department of World Languages and Literature and The Russian Club

Register here: https://libcal.smu.edu/event/17609537

09/29/2026

Please join us for our first Italian MOVIE NIGHT of the semester tonight at 7:00 PM in Clements 234!

We will watch a comedy called “Benvenuti al Sud”

Overwhelmed by his wife, a postal worker from Northern Italy feigns disability to request a transfer to Milan. When he’s unmasked, he is sent to a tiny village near Naples for two years. He moves there alone, scared and full of the typical prejudice about the south. But he meets lovely people who quickly make him feel at home. Now the challenge is to explain this to his wife, so he chooses to make her believe that his life is hell. A remake of the French film “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis.”

Trailer: https://youtu.be/O-OmwGJQPq8?si=5-o7rqN08T0b2CQm

Register on SMU360: https://cglink.me/2vb/r397552

09/29/2026

09/28/2026

09/25/2026

Stop by HTSC for an “Inside Look” 👀 at all that World Languages has to offer!

09/24/2026

https://cglink.me/2vb/r397589

09/21/2026

Join us for a virtual workshop in English, Fostering Empathy Through Art, led by Spanish journalist and art communicator Pablo Ortiz de Zárate, on Wednesday, September 30 at 2:00 p.m. Central Time.

Pablo has extensive experience communicating about art through the media and developing educational content for museums. He has worked with major Spanish media outlets, including La Sexta, Cadena SER, and El Mundo, and with leading cultural institutions such as the Thyssen Museum, Fundación MAPFRE, and CaixaForum, among others.

His work focuses especially on the emotional and therapeutic dimensions of art and on how close observation can help us understand and manage emotions, navigate difficult experiences, and connect more deeply with others.

During this interactive workshop, Pablo will use selected works from the Meadows Museum collection to explore a central question:

How can looking at art change the way we see others—and ourselves?

Through guided observation and conversation, participants will reflect on the emotions conveyed in works of art and consider how art can help us develop empathy and foster a more sensitive, human, and compassionate way of connecting with others.

Although the workshop uses works of art as its starting point, the ideas and strategies explored can be applied much more broadly. The workshop offers a practical way to think about how empathy, observation, and creativity may help us better understand our students and enrich our teaching. These approaches can be adapted to different disciplines and classroom contexts, whether as pedagogical tools, reflective practices, or ways of fostering more meaningful and inclusive learning environments.

The workshop will be fully online and conducted in English, so please feel free to join us from wherever you are.

Register on SMU 360:
https://cglink.me/2vb/r397609

Join via Zoom:
https://smu.zoom.us/j/91315352536