MFA in Film

Students commence their MFA with fall-term core courses, where they actively workshop thesis ideas in our three production studios, exploring a wide range of technologies and techniques (green screen, improv for the camera, 16mm hand processing, run ‘n gun agit-prop, long takes, junk culture collage, neo-realism). Hands-on electives in Screenwriting, Documentary Workshop, Process Cinema, Directing Actors and Hybrid Fiction are offered annually, while additional courses in Digital Activism or Art of Events may be offered every other year. Students are also encouraged to take graduate courses in our Studies stream, like Future Cinema, and consider courses offered throughout AMPD and York University. In addition, we offer annual intensive Summer Institutes on special themes, often in collaboration with our AMPD partners (Art History & Visual Culture, Dance, Design, Digital Media, Music, Theatre & Performance Studies, Visual Art).

Throughout the semester, up to a dozen half-day workshops are offered on practices as diverse as 16mm hand processing, editing in Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere, sound recording and design, music composition, digital cameras, blocking for the camera, colour grading etc.

Special Masterclasses with visiting artists and scholars (Deepa Mehta, Sarah Polley, Alanis Obamsawin) are held at Motion Media Studio, a top-of-the-line facility.

The Grad program often hosts a weekly screening and lecture series in a campus cinema. We have an ongoing partnership with Cinema Politica, to screen politically engaged films campus cinema.