Welcome New Students!
A letter from Barbara Zecchi, Program Director
Our whole team is thrilled to have you on board our dynamic center of interdepartmental, interdisciplinary and multicultural activity. If you are reading these lines, it probably means we share a passion for cinema. With us, you’ll have a really unique chance to pursue it, and make it grow!
Through our program, you will acquire a broad and global education in Film Studies. You’ll take classes taught by energetic and enthusiastic professors from fifteen different departments, who have published first rate scholarship and won some major awards. You will be exposed to a vast array of approaches, angles, experiences, in many diverse topics (such as film theory, film criticism, video-essay criticism and podcasting, the history of cinema, world cinema, national cinemas, film genres, screenwriting, cinematography, film editing, etc.). You will be able to choose among different levels and varied formats of film courses: theory and practice, undergraduate and graduate; masterclasses and colloquia; face to face, hybrid, blended or online; at our Amherst Campus, in our state of the art new Integrative Learning Center, at the Five Colleges, at the UMass Amherst's New York Professional Outreach Program, and even overseas, through our sponsored study abroad programs all over the world, and virtually, with our new online certificate.
At UMass, you’ll have the opportunity to work immediately in your favorite field by becoming a Film Studies Intern and collaborating with us in many of the program initiatives; you can also compete for the prestigious Michael S. Roif Award: an annual prize given for an audiovisual work that demonstrates exceptional creativity and accomplishment; or apply to the week-long summer program offered by The Five College in partnership with the world-renowned Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. Thanks to our unique activities (our seminal Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, the DEFA (Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft) Film Library, the annual New Asia Cinema, the Latin American Film Festival, and the Catalan Film Festival, you’ll have plentiful chances to interact with some of the most renown protagonists of the world of cinema: filmmakers, producers, screenwriters, critics, historians, etc.
And if you are wondering about your future after graduation, our undergraduate certificate students have been able to compete successfully for admission to prestigious film schools and graduate programs; for positions in film and video production, distribution and exhibition; and with jobs as editors, producers, actors and filmmakers. Likewise, many of our graduate students have found employment in first rate institutions upon completion of their PhD.
I invite you to browse the website to learn more about the variety of classes you can take, the interests and achievements of our faculty, and the extraordinary breadth and depth of our program . If you are not a student, but a film enthusiast and you want to help, your support is critical to our success. Gifts to the Film Studies program help provide equipment and other resources for our classes.
Check List for New Undergraduate Students
- Make an initial enrollment appointment through Navigate with an advisor.
- Complete a minimum of 6 approved courses (either 3 or 4 credits per course) in film and/or video and television from at least 3 different departments/programs.
- Choose your courses from the different categories listed here for a total of at least 18 credits in 6 courses.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact us, or to come and visit us!
New Graduate Students should check our Graduate Program Information