EVENTS

19th Annual Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival

Weds. 7:30pm, UMass Amherst
137 Isenberg School of Management

The 19th Annual Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, “Intersections: fiction/non-fiction,” headlines award-winning narrative features and documentaries from France, Iran, Germany, Mexico, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, Finland, Guatemala, Palestinian Territory, and the USA. Our lineup showcases several New England premieres and hosts five acclaimed women filmmakers and video artists who will be present for discussion. This season explores the hybrid interconnections and boundaries between documentary and fiction, beyond and across borders and genres—geopolitical, transnational, generational, artistic, cultural and historical—offering a wealth of visual pleasure for every taste. [More...]

Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival 2012

The Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival presents 2 weeks of award-winning films from around the world, plus speakers and special events. Through collaborations with educational and cultural organizations as well as businesses, the Festival provides audiences a multifaceted exploration of contemporary Jewish culture, secular and religious life, history and politics.Films are screened across the Pioneer Valley – this year in Amherst, Chicopee, Greenfield, Longmeadow, Northampton, Shelburne Falls, Springfield, and West Springfield - in venues ranging from the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield to the Garden Cinemas in Greenfield with many stops in between. [More...]

Symposium: Women, Social Justice, Documentary

March 31 and April 1, 2012, the Film Studies Program at Smith College will hold a two-day symposium focused on women, social justice, and documentary film. The symposium will bring together some of the major women practitioners of documentary whose aim is social justice for a weekend of panel discussions, talks, and screenings. Panelists and speakers include Lourdes Portillo (keynote speaker), Cynthia Wade, Su Friedrich, Rea Tajiri, Barbara Hammer, Liza Johnson, Sonali Gulati, Joan Braderman, and Debra Zimmerman, among others. [More...]

See the Events page for more UMass, Five College, and Local film events.

PROGRAM

Undergraduate Certificate

The Undergraduate Certificate Program in Film Studies offers undergraduates a comprehensive interdepartmental course of study in the history, criticism, theory, and aesthetics of the moving image. Film Studies faculty from a broad spectrum of departments offer courses exploring the dynamics of screen representation in topics such as media and culture; race, nation and ethnicity; gender and sexuality; film styles and genre; production and distribution; technology and new media. Graduates go on to prestigious film schools and graduate programs; positions in film and video production; employment in film and video distribution and exhibition, digital and new media, and as editors, producers, actors and independent filmmakers. [More...]

Graduate Certificate

The Graduate Certificate in Film Studies offers graduate students the opportunity to cultivate their work and interest in film studies as an important part of their graduate training. Certificate students have the opportunity to benefit from advanced study in a growing field, mentored by internationally-renowned, award-winning faculty specialists in the arts, humanities and social sciences. [More...]

Faculty

Faculty from fifteen departments from the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and the School of Education teach courses in the Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies and participate in film events and programs at UMass and in the Five Colleges. The Director of Film Studies, Catherine Portuges, is a professor of Comparative Literature specializing in French and East-Central European cinema. [More...]

Review the Courses and the Five College Interchange page for more information about the program in film studies.

OPPORTUNITIES

Internships

Students in Film Studies each year benefit from internship opportunities with such world class programs as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the L.A. Intensive program, and also with local film organizations such as the Media Education Foundation, the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, Amherst Cinema, ACTV, and our own Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies at UMass. [More...]

Michael S. Roif Award

The Micheal S. Roif Award in Film Studies is a competitive annual prize awarded to students in the Undergraduate Film Studies Certificate Program. Nominate your outstanding film students for the 2012 award. [More...]

Film Festivals

Students are invited to submit work to film competitions at UMass, in the Five Colleges, locally, and internationally, such as the UMass Undergraduate Film Festival, the Five College Student Film Festival and other competitions announced on the Film Studies website. [More...]

Film Schools

Certificate students go on to pursue programs in filmmaking and advanced degrees in film and media studies. Listings on our Film Schools page offer a starting point for exploring options for further study. Representatives from programs such as LIU's innovative M.F.A. in Writing and Producing for Television meet with our students for in-depth informational and Q&A colloquia. [More...]

Study Abroad

Take advantage of the enriching experiences of studying abroad, including unique film studies opportunities that fulfill certificate course requirements. [More...]

Explore other resources such as film groups, research tools, and career building tools.