Description:

The BFA film program provides highly motivated and talented students with intensive conservatory training in all aspects of filmmaking. Students develop significant skills in directing, cinematography, editing, production, screenwriting, and film analysis. By the end of the sophomore year, students consult with the film faculty and choose to focus on either narrative, documentary, or experimental film production in their junior year.

The primary emphasis of the BFA program is on writing/directing. At the end of the junior year, however, film majors who have demonstrated exceptional talent in cinematography or screenwriting have the option of specializing in those areas, subject to approval by the program faculty. The faculty’s decision is based on demonstration of the student’s technical and artistic proficiency.

Facilities

Film majors enjoy a high equipment-to-student ratio and have access to fully equipped newly renovated sound stages, a mix studio, an equipment store, state of the art screening rooms, and digital editing studios.

About Our Alumni

More than 85 percent of film program alumni have found work in the film and television industries. These are just a few of our representative alumni: Jessica Brunetto, Ilya Chaiken, Austin Chick, Rocco Caruso, Bob Gosse, Nick GomezHal Hartley, Azazel Jacobs, Lesli Klainberg, Dani Michaeli, Whitney Ransick, Jimmie Joe Roche, Jeffrey Schwarz, James Spione, and Chris Wedge.

Updated 9-22-20

Requirements:

In addition to meeting General Education requirements, all film majors must complete the following requirements (104–106 credits, outlined below by year) and maintain the department standards for academic and professional conduct.

Effective Fall 2022 for new students entering the program.  

Requirements for the major include:

  1. A minimum of 24 credits in film history, criticism, and/or theory: CIN 1500 and 1510 plus four additional courses
  2. Satisfactory completion, as determined by the Film faculty, of the 16-credit senior thesis film

Note: Criteria for advancement also include the student’s fitness and potential for a professional life in the field, as determined by the department faculty. Advancement each year is by invitation of the faculty, following a scheduled, mandatory review of each student’s work. Any student on warning or probationary status is reviewed at the end of the semester (fall or spring). There is an ongoing assessment of professional growth in all work for all students.


Faculty

  • Lecturer of Film

    BFA, Purchase College, SUNY

  • Lecturer of Film
    • AAS, Queensborough Community College, CUNY
    • BS, York College CUNY
    • MM, New York University
  • Visiting Assistant Professor
    • BA, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
    • MFA, Yale University
  • Assistant Professor of Film

    BFA, Purchase College, SUNY

  • Lecturer of Film
    • BA, Wellesley College
    • MFA, Columbia University
  • Lecturer of Film

    BA, Brandeis University 

  • Lecturer of Screenwriting and Film
    Media Manager

    BFA, Purchase College, SUNY

  • Lecturer of Film
    • BA, Vassar College
    • MFA, Columbia University
  • Lecturer of Film
    • BA, University of Notre Dame
  • Lecturer, Film
    • BA, New York University
    • MFA, Columbia University
  • Assistant Professor of Screenwriting and Film

    BA, Purchase College, SUNY

  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies and Film
    • BFA, Purchase College, SUNY
    • MA, PhD, University of Rochester
  • Lecturer of Film
    • AA, Seattle Central Community College
    • BA, The Evergreen State College
  • Lecturer of Film

    AB, Harvard University

  • Lecturer of Film
    • BS, Utica College
    • MFA, City College of New York
  • Lecturer of Film

    BFA, Purchase College, SUNY

  • Assistant Professor of Film
    • BFA, Purchase College, SUNY
    • EdM, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • Associate Professor of Film

    BFA, Purchase College, SUNY

  • Lecturer of Film
    • Film Production, UCLA
    • International Development Studies, UCLA
    • Visual Communication, UNC-Chapel Hill
  • Lecturer in Film
    • BFA, Purchase College, SUNY
  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Film

    BFA, Purchase College, SUNY

Contributing Faculty

  • Associate Professor of Film and Cinema Studies
    Dean for Global Strategy and International Programs and Director of the Center for Engagement
    • BA, University of Wisconsin, Madison
    • MA, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
    • MPhil, PhD, Yale University
  • Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies
    • BA, Purchase College, SUNY
    • MFA, Hunter College, City University of New York
  • Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies
    • BA, Liaoning University (China)
    • MA, Beijing Film Academy
    • PhD, University of Chicago
  • Lecturer of Acting
    • BFA, New York University
  • Associate Professor of Cinema Studies
    Juanita and Joseph Leff Distinguished Professor 2022-2023
    • BA, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico)
    • MA, New York University
    • PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Courses