Students from all accredited colleges and universities are welcomed to apply to our Semester Cinema film intensive.  Many kinds of students—not just film and theater students—can benefit from our program. Yes, film and theater students develop new skills and are especially well-served—but so are students committed to theatre, visual arts, still photography, creative writing, and even history, literature and cultural studies.

This is because Semester Cinema cultivates essential skills in collaboration, critical thinking, joint decision-making, problem-solving, evidence-based inquiry, creative interpretation, contextual analysis, fair-mindedness, flexibility in the face of new information, risk-taking in the process of creative discovery and more.  

One alumnus of our program emphasized this value in our program – writing to say how all that he experienced with us convinced him that he could successfully pursue a career in pediatric neurology.
 
Students and professionals create a tight-knit creative community while also cultivating  practical skills and contacts which will help them advance. Many alumni, who gained their first production experience with us, are now working professionally as cinematographers, production designers, producers, directors, casting directors, editors, gaffers, costume designers, screenwriters and more.  

Many recent alumni are now fully engaged in professional filmmaking. Examples include assistant production coordinator on 2021 Golden Globe winner I Care a Lot ; assistant editor on 2020 Emmy nominee Hillary; NYC art director on 2020 Academy Award winner, Marriage Story; costume department on long-running Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Rescue Me; executive producer’s assistant on Tig Notaro’s 2017 Writer’s Guild nominee, One Mississippi; casting department on 2021Independent Spirit Award nominee, Invisible Man; writer’s assistant on Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series, The Americans; make-up artist on double Academy Award winner, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – and others.
 
Students interested in the following areas may be especially well suited in our program: