phd film studies columbia

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Film and Media Studies

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The Film and Media Studies Department:

Department website: https://arts.columbia.edu/film/undergraduate  

Office location: 513 Dodge Hall 

Office contact: 212-854-2815/ [email protected]

Director of Undergraduate Studies:  Prof. Robert King, [email protected] (Spring 2025), Prof. Annette Insdorf, [email protected] (Fall 2024)

Departmental Administrators: 

Hanna Seifu, Director of Academic Administration, [email protected] Sarah Adriance, Assistant Director of Academic Administration, [email protected]  

The Study of Film

The major in film studies is scholarly, international in scope, and writing-intensive. Students choose to major in film if they want to learn more about the art form, from technology to cultural significance; want to work in the film industry; or are interested in a major that combines arts and humanities.

Students usually declare the major toward the end of the second year by meeting with the departmental adviser; together, they create a program of twelve required courses within the major, often supplemented by courses outside the department. In the lecture classes and seminars, there tends to be a mixed population of undergraduate majors and graduate film students.

Students have the opportunity to gain additional experience by taking advantage of internship opportunities with film companies, working on graduate student films, and participating in the Columbia Undergraduate Film Productions (CUFP), an active, student-run organization that provides film-making experience to Columbia undergraduate producers and directors. In addition to careers in screenwriting, directing, and producing, alumni have gone on to work in film distribution, publicity, archives, and festivals, and to attend graduate school to become teachers and scholars.

The trajectory of the major is from introductory-level courses (three are required), to intermediate and advanced-level courses (two are required, plus seven electives). While film studies majors take workshops in screenwriting and film-making, the course of study is rooted in film history, theory, and culture.

The prerequisite for all classes is INTRO TO FILM ＆ MEDIA STUDIES ( FILM UN1000 )  offered each term at Columbia as well as at Barnard, and open to first-year students. Subsequently, majors take a combination of history survey courses; workshops ("Labs"); and advanced classes in theory, genre study, national cinemas, auteur study, and screenwriting.

The educational goal is to provide film majors with a solid grounding in the history and theory of film; its relation to other forms of art; and its synthesis of visual storytelling, technology, economics, and sociopolitical context, as well as the means to begin writing a script and making a short film.

Students who wish to graduate with honors must take the SENIOR SEMINAR IN FILM STUDIES ( FILM UN3900 ), writing a thesis that reflects mastery of cinematic criticism. The essay is submitted after the winter break. Students decide upon the topic with the professor and develop the essay during the fall semester.

Since film courses tend to be popular, it is imperative that students attend the first class. Registration priority is usually given to film majors and seniors.

Student Advising  

Contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies 

Coursework Taken Outside of Columbia  

Barnard college courses, transfer courses, summer courses, undergraduate research and senior thesis, department honors and prizes  , department honors.

In order to qualify for departmental honors, students must have a GPA of 3.75 in the major and distinction in their overall achievements in film study. Students who take FILM UN3900 Senior Seminar in Film Studies automatically enter consideration for honors; however, the class is not a requirement for honors.

Academic Prizes

The Pat Anderson Prize in Film Reviewing is named for the film critic who died in 2011. For many decades, she was part of New York’s movie community – writing about motion pictures for “Films in Review” – and a vital member of the National Board of Review from the 1970s until 2009.

The Guy Gallo Memorial Award in Screenwriting is in memory of adjunct professor Guy Gallo, who taught screenwriting at Columbia and Barnard for over twenty-five years. He is best known for writing the screenplay of Under the Volcano, which John Huston directed in the early 1980s.

The Andrew Sarris Memorial Award for Film Criticism is an annual award in honor of the celebrated Columbia film professor who died in 2012. The influential critic behind the “auteur theory,” Sarris was the author of some of the most celebrated essays and books on American film, including his landmark study, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968.

• Vito Adriaensens
• Nico Baumbach
• Loren-Paul Caplin
• Jane Gaines
• Racquel Gates
• Ronald Gregg
• Annette Insdorf
• Caryn James
• Robert King
• Jason LaRiviere
• Benjamin Leonberg
• Richard Peña
• James Schamus

Guidance for Undergraduate Students in the Department  

Program planning for all students, course numbering structure  , guidance for first-year students  , guidance for transfer students.

Contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies  

Undergraduate Programs of Study

Major in film & media studies.

The major in film studies requires a minimum of 36 points distributed as follows:

• Outside of the required classes, most undergraduate courses offered through the Columbia or Barnard Film and Media Studies majors will count as an elective, including summer classes. Please confirm with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
• Film- or media-related classes from other departments can count as electives only with prior DUS approval.
• There is a cap of FOUR classes in screenwriting or filmmaking that can be applied toward the major.
• Cinema History or Lab classes taken in excess of the above requirements roll over as electives (e.g., if you take two labs, one will count as one of your seven electives).

Minor in Film & Media Studies 

The minor consists of five courses (fifteen credits) as follows:

Intro to Film and Media Studies (FILM UN1000) (3 credits)

Two of the following four courses, one of which must be FILM UN2010 or UN2020:

o Cinema History I: Beginnings to 1930 (FILM UN2010) (3 credits)

o Cinema History II: 1930-1960 (FILM UN2020) (3 credits)

o Cinema History III: 1960-1990 (FILM UN2030) (3 credits)

o Cinema History IV: After 1990 (FILM UN2040) (3 credits)

Any two electives, one of which can be from the following labs:

o Lab in Writing Film Criticism (FILM UN2410) (3 credits)

o Lab in Screenwriting (FILM UN2420) (3 credits)

o Lab in Fiction Filmmaking (FILM UN2510) (3 credits)

o Lab in Nonfiction Filmmaking (FILM UN2520) (3 credits)

Some classes are at present not available to minors except with explicit instructor approval, as

follows: Senior Seminar in Film Studies (FILM UN3900); Advanced Film Production Practice

(FILM UN3915); Senior Seminar in Screenwriting (FILM UN3920); Narrative Strategies in

Screenwriting (FILM UN3925). 

Advising and governance

Students who take the minor should begin with Intro to Film and Media Studies, which is open

to all students across the university, no matter their year or major/minor. The Cinema History

classes can also be taken at any time, irrespective of declared major/minor. Lab classes and

seminars will only be available to students who have declared minors in Film and Media Studies

(usually at the end of their sophomore year).

All minors are entitled to one lab class, although they may take a second for their other elective

if space permits. Priority for labs will be organized as follows: 1) majors who have not taken a

lab; 2) minors who have not taken a lab; 3) majors who have already taken one lab; 4) minors

who have already taken one lab. 

Students can apply only one study abroad or transfer class (3-credit equivalent) to completion

of the minor. This restriction also applies to film-related classes offered in other Columbia

FILM UN1000 INTRO TO FILM ＆ MEDIA STUDIES. 3.00 points .

Lecture and discussion. Priority given to declared film majors. Fee: $75.

Prerequisites: Discussion section FILM UN1001 is a required corequisite This course serves as an introduction to the study of film and related visual media, examining fundamental issues of aesthetics (mise-en-scene, editing, sound), history (interaction of industrial, economic, and technological factors), theory (spectatorship, realism, and indexicality), and criticism (auteurist, feminist, and genre-based approaches). The course also investigates how digital media change has been productive of new frameworks for moving image culture in the present. Discussion section FILM UN1001 is a required corequisite

FILM UN1010 Genre Study. 3 points .

Fee: Course Fee - 75

Prerequisites: This lecture course will have 3 discussion sections, capped at 20, listed as UN 1011 Genre Study - Disc. There will also be a film screening, scheduled immediately after one of the lecture sessions. This course examines how globalization and the global success of American blockbuster films have affected Hollywood film production, stardom, distribution, and exhibition. The course will analyze blockbuster aesthetics, including aspects of special effects, 3-D, sound, narration, genre, and editing. We will also study the effects of new digital technologies on Hollywood and the cross-pollination among Hollywood, art house, and other national cinemas. Finally, we will examine the effects of 9/11, the “war on terrorism,” climate change and other global concerns on marketing, aesthetics and other aspects of this cinema

FILM UN2010 CINEMA HIST I: BEGIN-1930. 3.00 points .

This course rethinks the ;birth of cinema; from the vantage of ;when old media was new.; Following standard approaches, it moves from actualities to fiction, from the ;cinema of attractions; to narrative, from the cinematographe to cinema, from cottage industry to studio system. Units in silent film music, early genres, film piracy and copyright, word and moving image, and restoration--the film archivists dilemma in the digital era. FILM W2011

FILM UN2020 CINEMA HIST II: 1930-1960. 3.00 points .

This course examines major developments and debates in the history of cinema between 1930 and 1960, from the consolidation of the classic Hollywood studio system in the early sound era to the articulation of emergent ;new waves; and new critical discourses in the late 1950s. Our approach will be interdisciplinary in scope, albeit with an emphasis on social and cultural history - concerned not only with how movies have developed as a form of art and medium of entertainment, but also with cinemas changing function as a social institution. Discussion section FILM UN 2021 is a required co-requisite

FILM UN2030 CINEMA HIST III:1960-1990. 3.00 points .

By closely watching representative classics from countries including Italy, Poland, Russia and Argentina, we will study the distinctive trends and masters of this vibrant era. Special attention will be paid to the French New Wave (60s); the New German Cinema (70s); the reformulation of Hollywood studio filmmaking in the 70s (Altman, Cassavetes, Coppola), and the rise of the independent American cinema (80s). Discussion section FILM UN 2031 is a required co-requisite

FILM UN2040 CINEMA HISTORY IV: AFTER 1990. 3.00 points .

This course brings our survey of the development of the art, technology, and industry of motion images up to the present. During this era, most people no longer watched movies (perhaps the most neutral term) in theaters, and digital technology came to dominate every aspect of production, distribution, and exhibition. Highlighted filmmakers include Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Wong Kar-wei, and Steve McQueen. Topics range from contemporary horror to animation. Requirements: short (2-3 pages) papers on each film shown for the class and a final, take-home exam. FILM W2041

FILM UN2190 TOPICS IN AMERICAN CINEMA. 3.00 points .

This course surveys the American film genre known as film noir, focusing primarily on the genre’s heyday in the 1940s and early 1950s, taking into account some of its antecedents in the hard-boiled detective novel, German Expressionism, and the gangster film, among other sources. We will consider a number of critical and theoretical approaches to the genre, and will also study a number of film noir adaptations and their literary sources

FILM UN2290 Topics in World Cinema: Arab and Africa. 3 points .

FILM UN2292 Topics in World Cinema: China. 3 points .

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement Fee: Course Fee - 75

The international revelation of Chinese cinema in the 1980s was one of the great events both for film studies and film production in the past fifty years: the depth and richness of the classic cinemas of the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan were complemented by the emergence of exciting new films and filmmakers from each of those film cultures. This course will trace the history and development of filmmaking in mainland China and Hong Kong, from the Shanghai cinema of the 1930s to recent examples of digital media production, examining changes in film style and technique within the context of ever-shifting political currents and production models. A special focus will be the ongoing dialogue between Chinese film and international trends ranging from realism to postmodernism.

FILM UN2293 TOPICS IN WORLD CINEMA-DISC. 0.00 points .

See above.  This submission is to generate a course number for the discussion section to go with the lecture course.

FILM UN2294 WORLD CINEMA: LATIN AMERICA. 3.00 points .

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

An overview of the major developments in the art and industry of cinema in Latin America, ranging from its earliest days to the most recent works of the digital era. The interaction of Latin American filmmakers with international movements such as neorealism, modernism, cinema vérité, and postmodernism will be addressed. Among the filmmakers to be studied are Luis Buñuel, Glauber Rocha, Raúl Ruiz and Lucrecia Martel. Students will discover the major industrial tends as well as artistic currents that have defined Latin American cinema, as well as have the chance to analyze a number of key works both in terms of their varying approaches to filmmaking as well as their resonance with political/social/historical issues

FILM UN2295 World Cinema: Latin America - Discussion Section. 0 points .

Discussion section lead by a Teaching Assistant to review lecture, reading and screening.

FILM UN2310 THE DOCUMENTARY TRADITION. 3.00 points .

Film screening, lecture, and discussion. Fee: $75.

This class offers an introduction to the history of documentary cinema and to the theoretical and philosophical questions opened up by the use of moving images to bear witness, persuade, archive the past, or inspire us to change the future. How are documentaries different than fiction films? What is the role of aesthetics in relation to facts and evidence in different documentary traditions? How do documentaries negotiate appeals to emotions with rational argument? From the origins of cinema to our current “post-truth” digital age, we will look at the history of how cinema has attempted to shape our understanding of reality. FILM W2311

FILM UN2400 Script Analysis. 3 points .

Lecture and discussion. Fee: $50.

The dramatic and cinematic principles of screen storytelling, including dramaturgy, character and plot development, use of camera, staging, casting, sound, editing, and music. Diverse narrative techniques, story patterns, dramatic structures, and artistic and genre forms are discussed, and students do screenwriting exercises. FILM UN2401 discussion section is required

FILM UN2410 LAB IN WRITING FILM CRITICISM. 3.00 points .

Priority is given to film majors.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission. Applicants must submit a writing sample, approximately 3 pages long, to [email protected] for permission to register. Lab in Writing Film Criticism This course will focus on writing fresh, original criticism, on developing an individual voice, and on creating strong arguments supporting your ideas (qualities that translate to many areas, from reviewing to pitching a film project). Screenings in and outside class will be followed by discussion and in-class writing exercises, as well as regular writing assignments. How do you choose an effective critical approach? How do you make your opinions vivid and convincing on the page? We will also analyze recent criticism and consider the changing landscape of film criticism today. Prerequisite: Instructor’s permission. Submit a short, film-related sample to [email protected] Note: Because permission is required, on-line registration may say the course is full when it is not. Priority given to film majors

FILM UN2420 LABORATORY IN SCREENWRITING. 3.00 points .

This lab is limited to declared Film and Media Studies majors. Exercises in the writing of film scripts

FILM UN2510 LAB IN FICTION FILMMAKING. 3.00 points .

Open to film majors only. Fee: $75.

This lab course is limited to declared Film ＆ Media Studies majors. Exercises in the use of video for fiction shorts

FILM UN2520 LAB IN NONFICTION FILMMAKING. 3.00 points .

Exercises in the use of video for documentary shorts

FILM UN3010 AUTEUR STUDY. 3.00 points .

This seminar in Auteur Study explores the cinematic work of the renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski, best known for such classics as Three Colors: Blue, White, Red and Decalogue. Special attention will be paid to the latter--ten 1-hour films loosely based on the 10 Commandments--considered a towering achievement of poetic style as well spiritual vision. Through in-class screenings, discussions, and readings, we will focus on the formal, political and thematic richness of his films. Requirements include weekly attendance, punctuality, classroom participation, a midterm paper (5 - 7 pages), and a final paper (10 - 12 pages)

FILM UN3020 Interdisciplinary Studies. 3 points .

We will explore how films from a variety of countries--notably Germany, Poland, France, Italy and the U.S.--have attempted to grapple with the legacy of the Shoah. Through close reading of such motion pictures as THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET, THE PAWNBROKER, SEVEN BEAUTIES, PARTISANS OF VILNA, KORCZAK and GENGHIS COHN, we will discuss the possibilities and limitations of Holocaust representation onscreen.

FILM UN3900 SENIOR SEMINAR IN FILM STUDIES. 3.00 points .

A seminar for senior film majors planning to write a research paper in film history/theory/culture. Course content changes yearly

FILM UN3910 Senior Seminar in Filmmaking. 3 points .

Prerequisites: FILM UN2420 or FILM UN2510

An advanced directing workshop for senior film majors who have already completed FILM UN2420 or FILM UN2510 .

FILM UN3915 ADVANCED FILM PRODUCTION PRACTICE. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: FILM UN2510 or FILM UN2520 Advanced Film Production Practice is an advanced production and lecture course for students who wish to obtain a deeper understanding of the skills involved in screenwriting, directing and producing. Building on the fundamentals established in the Labs for Fiction and Non-Fiction Filmmaking, this seminar further develops each student’s grasp of the concepts involved in filmmaking through advanced analytical and practical work to prepare Thesis film materials

FILM UN3920 SENIOR SEM IN SCREENWRITING. 3.00 points .

A seminar for senior film majors. Students will complete a step outline and minimum of 30 pages of their project, including revisions. Through reading/viewing and analyzing selected scripts/films, as well as lectures, exercises and weekly critiques, students will expand their understanding of dramatic writing and narrative-making for film and TV, including adaptations. They will learn appropriate structure for each specific screen-writing form, and endeavor to apply their understanding of drama, character, theme, and structure to their chosen narrative project

FILM UN3925 NARRATIVE STRAT-SCREENWRITING. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: FILM UN2420 . Prerequisites: FILM W2420. This workshop is primarily a continuation of Senior Seminar in Screenwriting. Students will either continue developing the scripts they began in Senior Seminar in Screenwriting, or create new ones including a step outline and a minimum of 30 pages. Emphasis will be placed on character work, structure, theme, and employing dramatic devices. Weekly outlining and script writing, concurrent with script/story presentation and class critiques, will ensure that each student will be guided toward the completion of his or her narrative script project

FILM UN3930 The Actor's Art: Jeanne Moreau. 3.00 points .

Study of major films in the seven-decade career of Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017), the performing artist who is widely recognized as France’s greatest actress of the post-World War II era and who has also been a pioneering female director. Topics include: the value for film criticism and history of conceptualizing the performer as a creative auteur; Moreau’s manner(s) of film acting and role realization; the risks and the productive consequences of her serving as “muse” to such male directors as Louis Malle, François Truffaut, Orson Welles, Joseph Losey, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Paul Mazursky, and as a creative partner to such female directors as Marguerite Duras and Josée Dayan; her embodiments and projections of sexuality and sensuality and how they differ from those of other so-called “screen love goddesses” (Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Simone Signoret, Catherine Deneuve); Moreau’s own work as a director of feature-length films; the rewards and burdens of international stardom and the challenge of being expected to “represent” France and its cinema; growing old in the public eye and life-long strategies for career renewal and sustainability

FILM UN3950 SEMINAR IN MEDIA: SERIALITY. 3.00 points .

From streaming to binge-viewing,  Serial  to  Breaking Bad , seriality is a preeminent framework for the orchestration of contemporary media production and consumption. This course explores histories and theories of seriality as a recurrent trope of media cultures over the last century and more. To this end, the course adopts a comparative media perspective, exploring seriality in its varied textual manifestations across diverse media forms (the penny press, early cinema, television, podcasts, and social media). It also focuses on the range of functions that seriality has performed, as, e.g., a mode for the systematization of mass cultural reproduction, as a framework for the integration of fan networks and media systems, even as a vehicle for the creation of national and political communities.

FILM UN3960 INTRO TO EXPERIMENTAL FILM ＆ VIDEO. 3.00 points .

This course provides an overview of experimental film and video since the early 20th century European art movements (abstract, Dada, Surrealism), including the emergence of American experimental film in the 1940s, post-World War II underground experimental films, structuralist films and early video art in the 1960s and 70s, post-1960s identitarian experimental work, the emergence of digital video in museums and online in the 1990s to the present. The course surveys and analyses a wide range of experimental work, including the artists Hans Richter, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, Joseph Cornell, Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow, Martha Rosler, Vito Acconci, Barbara Hammer, Su Friedrich, Julie Dash, Isaac Julien, Matthew Barney, Ryan Trecartin, and others. The course will study the structural, aesthetic and thematic links between mainstream and avant-garde cinema, theater, and art movements, and will place the films in their economic, social, and political contexts

FILM GU4000 FILM AND MEDIA THEORY. 3.00 points .

This course offers a historical and critical overview of film and media theory from its origins up to the present

FILM GU4300 Black Film and Media. 3.00 points .

This course examines the historical and theoretical issues concerning the representation of African Americans in film and media. The course will provide a historical overview while focusing on key themes, concepts, and texts

FILM GU4310 EXPERIMENTAL FILM ＆ MEDIA. 3.00 points .

This course provides an overview of experimental film and video since the early 20th century European art movements (abstract, Dada, Surrealism), including the emergence of American experimental film in the 1940s, post-World War II underground experimental films, structuralist films and early video art in the 1960s and 70s, post-1960s identitarian experimental work, the emergence of digital video in museums and online in the 1990s to the present. The course surveys and analyses a wide range of experimental work, including the artists Hans Richter, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, Joseph Cornell, Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow, Martha Rosler, Vito Acconci, Barbara Hammer, Su Friedrich, Julie Dash, Isaac Julien, Matthew Barney, Ilana Harris-Babou, and others. The course will study the structural, aesthetic and thematic links between mainstream and avant-garde cinema, theater, and art movements, and will place the films in their economic, social, and political contexts

FILM GU4320 New Directions in Film and Philosophy. 0 points .

FILM GU4910 Seeing Narrative. 3 points .

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.

An advanced film theory “workshop” in which we shall avoid reading film theory in favor of a selection of other texts, taken mainly from the domains of art history, philosophy, and literature. Our central question will be: What can filmmakers and film theorists learn from discourses about vision and its relation to narrative that pre-date the cinema, or that consider the cinema only marginally?

FILM GU4940 QUEER CINEMA. 3.00 points .

This course examines themes and changes in the (self-)representation of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in cinema from the early sound period to the present. It pays attention to both the formal qualities of film and filmmakers’ use of cinematic strategies (mise-en-scene, editing, etc.) designed to elicit certain responses in viewers and to the distinctive possibilities and constraints of the classical Hollywood studio system, independent film, avant-garde cinema, and world cinema; the impact of various regimes of formal and informal censorship; the role of queer men and women as screenwriters, directors, actors, and designers; and the competing visions of gay, progay, and antigay filmmakers. Along with considering the formal properties of film and the historical forces that shaped it, the course explores what cultural analysts can learn from film. How can we treat film as evidence in historical analysis? We will consider the films we see as evidence that may shed new light on historical problems and periodization, and will also use the films to engage with recent queer theoretical work on queer subjectivity, affect, and culture

FILM GU4950 Visual Bodies: From Cinema to New Media. 3 points .

How is the human body, in its diversity, portrayed on screen ? And how may filmic languages—from cinema to new media—be affected by the multifaceted experience of our embodied dimension ? In this course we will examine the intricate relationship between cinema and the body as a paradigmatic way to study how moving images are seen, made, and experienced today. From a plurality of standpoints (historical, formal, theoretical) and across a wide range of corpus (documentary, fiction, experimental, new media, art cinema), we will ask ourselves how different filmic discourses are able to represent and explore the creative faculties but also the darker sides of the body, its gestures, desires, impulses or drives. We will investigate how they can account for the cognitive, gender, cultural, technological and political revolutions associated with the body throughout history, with a particular emphasis on contemporary contexts of new images, mediascapes, and practices. Focusing on several key-sites of the (post-)modern condition—cosmopolitan/metropolitan experiences, narrative technolo-gies, pluralist (dis-)identifications, tansmedial mobility, immanent temporalities—the course will offer rich critical opportunities to make sense of contemporary bodies via moving images, and vice versa .

Theoretical/critical works read in class will include texts by Bergson, Epstein, Pierce, Deleuze, Bellour, Elsaesser, Doane, Lastra…

The course is organized around lectures/seminars and film screenings. Students are expected to participate fully by carrying out assessed readings and writing assignments, actively involve in classroom discussions/viewings, and give scheduled oral presentations.

FILM GU4951 NEW MEDIA ART. 3.00 points .

The rapid democratization of technology has led to a new wave of immersive storytelling that spills off screens into the real world and back again. These works defy traditional constraints as they shift away from a one-to-many to a many-to-many paradigm, transforming those formerly known as the audience from passive viewers into storytellers in their own right. New opportunities and limitations offered by emergent technologies are augmenting the grammar of storytelling, as creators wrestle with an ever-shifting digital landscape. New Media Art pulls back the curtain on transmedial works of fiction, non-fiction, and emergent forms that defy definition. Throughout the semester well explore projects that utilize Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things, alongside a heavy-hitting selection of new media thinkers, theorists, and critics. The course will be co-taught as a dialogue between artistic practice and new media theory. Lance Weiler, a new media artist and founder of Columbia’s Digital Storytelling Lab, selected the media artworks; Rob King, a film and media historian, selected the scholarly readings. It is in the interaction between these two perspectives that the course will explore the parameters of emerging frontiers in media art and the challenges these pose for existing critical vocabularies

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Q & A With Patrick Clement, Columbia MFA Screenwriting & Directing Student

• May 19, 2019
• Comments: 4
• Category: Film Student Interviews

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• 4.00 star(s)
• May 21, 2016

Columbia is one of the top colleges in the world, period.

• Prestigious Ivy League University
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• Diverse student body
• Isolation from other years/depts
• Lack of up-to-date equipment
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• Cost of living
• Narrow storytelling focus

I am at the end of my first year in the Screenwriting/Directing MFA at Columbia University. I wanted to wait to give a review until the end of my first year; needed to get the lay of the land. I want to preface this by saying that I am but one student of many and my opinion is my own. Many current and former students will have different opinions/experiences, so please, if you are considering applying to/attending Columbia ask around, you will get many perspectives. First I'll start with what I like about the Columbia Program. Certainly attending one of the "Top Five" Film MFAs in the world is a bonus. CU is often ranked as one of the best film programs in the world. I cannot compare it with other programs (since I am not a student at those schools) but I certainly believe it is a very strong program with alot to offer. Columbia is one of the top colleges in the world, period. It's an Ivy League University and has a big alumni association and long history that is impressive. I looks great on a resume. The campus is beautiful, with some exceptions (see below) and it's located in one of the biggest cities in the world. Some people say its one of the best cities as well, but it's not Boston. As far as I am concerned there is Boston, and there is everywhere else. It's no Boston, that's for sure. I'm from Boston, in case you hadn't figured it out. The Film Program is located in Dodge Hall on the west side of campus, close to the train station side. We share a building with the other School of the Arts programs; writing, music, fine art, ect. The film program has an entire floor, with a small theatre and classrooms. It's intimate and lots of people hang out in the hall and shoot the shit all day. I don't, but some people do. Class sizes are small and aside from larger, full-class courses, all of the smaller classes are about 12 people, so the class time is open and intimate. Many of the professors are really wonderful and giving and available. I'd say about half (more on this below). Their experience and insight has been invaluable. I had complete respect for all of the faculty when I started the program and many have earned and exceeded that respect. The school focuses VERY HEAVILY on story. Structure, dramatic blocks, narrative storytelling are king, and all of the faculty do this very well. They may teach it differently, but they are all focused on stelling a story, even when discussing camera moves, blocking, ect. This is a big reason why I chose the school and I have been satisfied with the strong story focus. Another thing I really love is the school's diversity. Nearly half, perhaps more than half, of my current class is international and I suspect we have half or more female students. The interests and perspectives of my classmates is wide and diverse. Its wonderful. And I would like to add nearly all of them are genuinely good human persons. Columbia has had some nice successes in TV/Film and it seems we have as much a chance as everyone else. I do not feel like Columbia is an industry school, but certainly more of an indie darling. Some alums have done big studio pictures, but the school seems more focused on indie filmmakers, festival circuit films and writer/directing social drama auteurs. They always have a nice presence at prestigous festivals like Tribeca, Sundance, Cannes, ect. I have seen a nice evolution to my work and I am pleased at where I am after one year. My critiques are ranging. These reviews aren't meant to paint a complete picture. Life is complex, informed opinions are complex; so they should be taken individually, as one part of the whole. Columbia is a wonderful institution, but the SOA is kind of a bastard step child. We are not research, so we do not get the nice buildings, or the renovated classrooms. Dodge Hall is wonderful for what it is, but the building is old and most of it is not updated. The heating/ac is terrible and the windows are those old heavy kind that take three people to lift. On that same line; Columbia has never been a "production" school and it has yet to really update its equipment to be inline with other MFAs. I understood this when applying and accepting, but certainly a "Top Five" MFA program still using 1st/2nd Gen Kino's in 50lb cases and P2 Card cameras could use some updating (*** Update, the school has upgraded to Fs5 cameras for exercises and 1st and 2nd year projects with available vintage and CP2 Zeiss primes). It was a constant complaint from many of the students. Also the good gear they do have, like their sound recorders, have all been beaten to shit and always have a loose wire or a broken pot. Production-wise the school gets a C-. (*** Updated to a B- with gear upgrades and a move to a better equipment facility) One of the tech staff spoke to our entire class during a post-production workshop and railed for ten minutes on how "terrible filmmakers" use 4k to re-frame and that 4k capture is a waste of time. While I wouldn't necessarily disagree (I do disagree actually), they should have presented 4k capture for what it truly is, a new tool that if used properly can benefit filmmakers of every kind. This is indicative of the tech and production staff which is cranky at best and dismissive often, especially to first year students. I would not say they were a "forward thinking" bunch. It was widely agreed that most of the faculty is AMAZING and the others are a waste of tuition. This is a bit harsh in my opinion however anyone spending $60k a year is going to have high, probably unattainable expectations. I do believe the faculty is "uneven" with many amazing teachers and some teachers that are either: 1. Great filmmakers, but not great teachers 2. Past their prime (probably amazing teachers 15 years ago) 3. Do not meet my personal needs. Of course they have no control over number three, but they have alot of control over the rest. Many students, myself included were more interested in our second year faculty. It seems many of the students were unhappy with first year faculty, many which ONLY teach first years. There is one faculty member in particular that told some wonderful creative, hardworking students they should quit the program. This faculty member is not respected or liked by many of the students, but does not look to be leaving any time soon. So, good luck. NYC is expensive and that sucks. The end. Columbia is a social-drama heavy school. They focus alot on the Sundance story model. If you want to make different types of films, and there are about 10 of us this year that do, you might feel pushed, pulled and a little bit ignored. I certainly feel that some of the faculty push students heavily towards this type of story telling, even when it is not what they want to do. I have had classes where the teacher adjusted for each student, but that is a rarity, I think. Especially with the directing staff; not necessarily with the writing staff. However, for me this is a positive, because these types of films rely heavily on story structure and I felt that was a personal weakness of mine. As long as you know this going in, you will be fine. If you don't know this, you might be butting heads with faculty and other students. Of course because the faculty and staff are geared towards those types of films, the awards, grants and the annual film festival winners all skew that way. The annual film festival, which showcases thesis films only brings a small selection of films to LA for an industry festival. This year the five films were all international; subtitled, social dramas. My last critique is about the lack of mixing between the years. At anyone time, there are 200-250 students in the program; in sequential years between first-year and thesis. The program has ZERO academic mixing between the years. So the students very rarely mix. They do and many work on different year projects, but the majority of students do not get to know anyone in the other years. It's crazy to me that there are not mixed year courses or projects. Overall, I have not had too many surprises and am overwhelmingly pleased with the program so far. I am looking forward to my second year and working towards my thesis. Good night and good luck.

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I see some people receiving acceptances for Columbia's MFA program in screenwriting/directing, but have yet to hear from the school myself, is this normal or should I expect a rejection?

• Sep 29, 2020

Hi everyone! Happy application season! My names Harriet, I'm from Canada and I have so many questions about applying to film school it's hard to wrap my head around them all. I'm applying to 5 different schools, but Columbia is my top choice. I was wondering if any current Columbia students are able to shed light on common mistakes made in the 10pg screenwriting portion of the application. Cliches, problems with tone, or just general mistakes that seem to pop up over and over again. Also, does anyone know when the final date for applying will be released? Thank you!!

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Fully Funded PhD Programs in Cinema and Media Studies

Last updated May 10, 2022

As part of our series  How to Fully Fund Your PhD , here is a list of universities that fully fund PhD students in Cinema and Media Studies. PhD in Cinema and Media Studies Studies can lead to a variety of careers in the film industry, academia, and more.

“Full funding” is a financial aid package for full-time students that includes full tuition remission as well as an annual stipend or salary during the entire program, which is usually 3-6 years. Funding usually comes with the expectation that students will teach or complete research in their field of study. Not all universities fully fund their doctoral students, which is why researching the financial aid offerings of many different programs, including small and lesser-known schools both in the U.S. and abroad, is essential.

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Cornell University, PhD in Performing and Media Arts (Ithaca, New York): All PhD degree candidates are guaranteed four years of funding (including a stipend, a full-tuition fellowship, and student health insurance) and also summer support for four years.

Harvard University, PhD program in Film and Visual Studies (Cambridge, MA): Harvard guarantees full financial support to PhD students—including tuition, health fees, and basic living expenses—for a minimum of five years. This multi-year funding package includes a combination of tuition grants, stipends, traineeships, teaching fellowships, research assistantships, and other academic appointments.

University of British Columbia (UBC), Phd in Cinema and Media Studies (Vancouver, BC, Canada): All students accepted and registered full-time in their graduate programs will be eligible for financial assistance from teaching assistantships and the Graduate Support Initiative (GSI). A funding package of at least $22,000 for each of the first four years of their Ph.D.

University of Chicago, PhD in Cinema and Media Studies (Chicago, IL): Doctoral students will be guaranteed to have funding support from the University of Chicago, external sources, or a combination of the two for the duration of their program including Full tuition coverage, Annual stipend, Fully paid individual annual health insurance premiums. Cinema and Media Studies Ph.D. students who matriculate in Autumn 2022 will receive a stipend of $33,000.

University of Toronto, PhD in Cinema Studies (Toronto, ON): The Cinema Studies Institute provides base funding for all graduate students enrolled in a four-year Ph.D. program. It will include tuition and fees, and $20,000. The base funding may include income from a variety of sources including external awards.

York University, PhD in Cinema & Media Studies (Toronto, Ontario): Domestic PhD students receive more than $24,000/year along with healthcare benefits and other forms of research support. In recent years, most Cinema & Media Studies (CMS) Ph.D. students have received additional funding through awards.

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14  Film Studies PhDs in United States

Film Studies It is no stretch to say that The University of Iowa helped to invent Film Studies as a discipline. The first... The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa, United States

Film and Media Studies The PhD program in Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) offers... University of California, Irvine (UCI) Irvine, California, United States

Rhetoric, Media, and Publics The Rhetoric, Media, and Publics program at Northwestern University is grounded in the humanistic tradition of... Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, United States

Digital Media The Digital Media Ph.D. at Georgia Institute of Technology provides both the theoretical and practical... Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia, United States

German Studies - Film and Media Studies At the Yale University we offer our graduate students a phd degree in German Studies - Film and Media... Yale University New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Journalism and Mass Communication At Journalism and Mass Communication from University of Oklahoma we seek junior colleagues who wish to explore... University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma, United States

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Future-Proofing with Tech: How the Technology Management Program Curriculum Evolves with a Rapidly Advancing Industry

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Change is accelerating. Generative AI is redefining the shape and speed of innovation. Columbia’s Master of Science in Technology Management program prepares technology professionals to future-proof their practice.

Columbia University pioneered the Ivy League’s first Technology Management master’s program 20 years ago to empower professionals to make an economic and social impact in a world of constant change and disruption. We have institutionalized technology’s continuous improvement and deployment philosophy in our curriculum. 

As technology continues to redefine operations, a paradigm shift has occurred. Previously, strategy and policy preceded execution. Today, execution leads, followed by strategy, with policy lagging behind. This evolution underscores technology’s pivotal role as a catalyst for innovation, growth, and risk, and the Technology Management program curriculum has been revised to keep up with industry innovations.   

“Tech leadership demands constant learning and adaptation,” said Dr. Alexis Wichowski, Technology Management’s program director and a professor of practice. “Our newly revised M.S. in Technology Management program now reflects that reality. This program is not just for tech people or business people: It trains future leaders to be equally fluent in both.”

The program prepares students to thrive in these conditions with solid fundamentals in core technology and business principles and also offers continually updated courses that reflect current trends. The revised curriculum is the first of its kind to include an explicit focus on ethical leadership, reflecting the ways in which today’s technology leaders must negotiate not only business and technology decisions but also the application of concepts like “do no harm” in relation to the deployment of new technologies.

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The program doesn’t just teach theory—it also provides hands-on experiential learning through projects, internships, and networking opportunities. The curriculum constantly evolves to keep pace with the latest developments in technology and business, ensuring that students graduate with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in their careers. With a community of more than 1,000 alumni who have gone on to lead and innovate at companies like Google, Apple, NASA, and more, students will be equipped to adapt and keep pace in an ever-changing technology landscape as they join a global network of peers shaping the future.

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• Columbia's Kubilay Uner to Join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Campus Communications Staff / Jul 01, 2024

Some emails you don’t want to miss. Associate Professor Kubilay Uner, director of Columbia College Chicago’s top-rated Music Composition for the Screen program, just received one of those emails.

It was from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, inviting him to join the 97-year-old organization that comprises film industry artists and leaders from around the globe. Not only do Academy members select Oscar nominees and winners, they preserve film history, inspire young artists, and create opportunities for underrepresented communities to engage with the film world. 

The email came while Uner was in a mixing session with his Semester in LA students.  

“I was in the best possible place to receive the news,” Uner says. “We were mixing our thesis session in the studio of 4x-Oscar-nominee Dennis Sands, who is one of the absolute legends of film music mixing. Just look at Dennis Sands'credits [e.g., “Avengers: End Game,” “Polar Express,” “Cast Away”], and you'll see why that felt like the perfect place to be sitting when you get invited into the Academy.” 

The email followed a process by which Uner was recommended for membership into the Academy’s music branch by two sponsors. These music peers then presented their case for Uner’s membership to a committee and highlighted Uner’s work, which includes composing scores for the Al Pacino historical drama “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”; the Mel Gibson action film “Force of Nature”; the Lionsgate Western "Gone Are the Days" starring Lance Henriksen, Tom Berenger and Danny Trejo; and "Big Sur," based on Jack Kerouac's novel. Uner also leads Columbia’s Music Composition for the Screen program, which “The Hollywood Reporter” currently ranks the best in the world.  

Uner joins 486 other new members, a class that includes actresses Lily Gladstone and Catherine O’Hara and composers Jo Yeong-wook (‘Decision to Leave’) and Dan Wilson (‘American Symphony’). The Academy also asked Columbia Alum Caryn Capotosto ’99 a documentary filmmaker, to join its ranks. 

An invitation to join the Academy is a great honor and truly validating, according to Uner.  

“There is something about being recognized by the people who do exactly what you do that is, in many ways for me, the most meaningful,” he says. “And to be invited into this branch, which is several hundred people at the top of our craft, and for them to say, ‘we think you belong here.’ That to me is, it's just like a shot in the arm.”  

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" I chose to come to SFU for the opportunities to learn about and research topics in math that are interesting to me, as well as to inspire young students through math and science outreach."

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Mathematics master's student in the Faculty of Science

Tell us a little about yourself, including what inspires you to learn and continue in your chosen field.

As a teacher myself, I love discovering new things that I think could be taught to others in fun and interesting ways. Math is full of these!

Why did you choose to come to SFU?

I chose to come to SFU for the opportunities to learn about and research topics in math that are interesting to me, as well as to inspire young students through math and science outreach.

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Searching for beauty in numbers.

What three (3) keywords would you use to describe your research?

Number Theory, Elliptic Curves, Fermat Equations

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Discovering new areas of math gives me inspiration in my own teaching. It has allowed me to teach the same topics in new, unique ways, or to bring new topics to a wider audience for the first time.

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Talk to (almost) everyone. There are opportunities waiting to be found if you are open to them.

What are some tips for balancing your academic and personal life?

Two more hours obsessing over details in an assignment or studying are almost never as productive as socializing for an hour and then studying for one hour. Get outside every once in a while and have some fun, your academics will be fine.

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