California College of the Arts has long been in the vanguard of the media arts, providing students with a chance to explore dynamic and exciting approaches to work in the moving image and sound arts.

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About the Film Program at CCA

CCA’s newly refocused Film Program builds on this strong foundation to create one of the most forward-looking places to study filmmaking and media arts in the country. The Film Program puts the full range of fiction and nonfiction filmmaking and new media arts practices in dialogue with each other.

Students glean inspiration from multiple, rich histories as they develop their own voices as artists and filmmakers and prepare for careers in the film industry, the art world, and beyond.

The Film Program at CCA is designed to explore the creative possibilities that exist in expanded narrative frameworks, from linear to nonlinear forms, with the goal of guiding young artists and filmmakers to break new ground in storytelling. A solid foundation in narrative film is provided along with a vibrant exploration of new forms in narrative and beyond.

CCA Film students matriculate through three levels of curriculum (Fundamentals, Intermediate, and Advanced), emerging with extensive knowledge and skill in production and conceptual practice alike. Myriad forms of filmmaking and media art are taught, including screen-based films, installation, web-based, and interactive projects.

Faculty & Student Work

All Film Program faculty members are established, working filmmakers and media artists who bring extensive professional experience to the classroom. The Film Program faculty believes theory is best taught through practice.

The work that has been produced by CCA students, faculty, and alumni exists in a diversity of platforms and technologies—from narrative and documentary forms to works that expand and move beyond these categories. These works are seen in domestic and international film festivals, cinemas, television, museums, galleries, and web-based presentations. CCA’s Film Program builds on this long established success.

Beyond the Classroom and into the Field

Film Program students have opportunities to learn not only in the college’s state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, production stage, and editing suites, but also in the field.

In recent years, field trips to professional institutions such as the Sundance Film Festival and Skywalker Ranch have been incorporated into the curriculum, as have visits to Monaco Labs and Shelton Acting Studio. Other field activities have included the production of a monthly television show (in collaboration with a local station) and classes held in the main theater of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in Bay Area galleries. Advanced production students visited the set of Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award–winning feature Milk and participated in its making.

The Bay Area provides numerous possibilities for educational experiences outside of the classroom. With the assistance of faculty, students secure internships and monitoring opportunities with Bay Area filmmakers, cinematographers, editors, and writers, as well as with such institutions as Lucasfilm, Bay Area Video Coalition, and others in the Bay Area’s diverse local film and media arts community.

Visiting Film & Video Artists

In addition to our internationally recognized faculty, [visiting film and video artists](/academics/visiting-faculty) come through the program regularly. Recent guest speakers include Matthew Buckingham, Christian Jankowski, Yvonne Rainer, Barbara Kopple, Nathaniel Kahn, Sam Green, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Kamal Aljafari, and Charles Burnett.