BFAFilm
Overview
Join a creative community
Studios & Shops
Explore a variety of forms
CCA film majors learn how to make films from start to finish, working both independently and in groups. Practical skills—such as writing, producing, filming, and editing—paired with a comprehensive grounding in cinema history and theory will inform your creative decisions and storytelling. Our curriculum is designed to help you think broadly about the medium of film, giving you the freedom to explore a variety of forms in your work, including narrative, experimental, installation and multiple channel video, media art, and documentary.
Cutting-edge methods and ideas
Mastering the tools of cinema is just the beginning. As you work toward your senior project, you’ll have opportunities to experiment with new processes and techniques. Collaborating with graduate film students, as well as with students studying animation, photography, and writing and literature, will push you to challenge your ideas about film and performance. You’ll also meet a range of filmmakers and artists who are working at the forefront of the medium today through CCA Film Week and our lecture series, Voices in Moving Image.
Senior project and public presentation
The BFA Film program culminates in the Senior Projects course, where you’ll conceptualize, produce, and edit a final work. You’ll create a sample reel, share your work at a screening or exhibition, and write an artist statement. Through the process of public presentation, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of how your work engages the larger discourse of contemporary film and art.
Facilities and resources
- Film Cage for equipment check-out
- Production stage with green screen
- Audio suite
- Post-production edit suites
- Post-production lab
Scan film, make small-scale prints, and more in the Digital Darkroom
Faculty
Award-winning filmmakers and artists
Our faculty are working filmmakers and media artists. Their backgrounds range from directing and cinematography to post-production, sound design, and installation. Rather than guiding students along one preferred path, faculty encourage students to broaden their perspectives, experiment with form, and work outside their comfort zones.
Michele Turnure-Salleo, Chair of Film
Michele Turnure-Salleo is chair and assistant professor of Film at CCA, teaching since 2016. She is principal at Feracious Entertainment, producing films with Bus Stop Films, WeirAnderson, and Sibel Films. Her EP credits include Blueback (TIFF/Sundance), Farewell Amor, Before You Know It, The Sound of Silence, and Buoyancy. Turnure-Salleo previously ran Filmmaker 360 at SFFILM; she also mentors globally and serves on The Redford Center board.
Faculty stories
Interview with film faculty Tenzin Phuntsog
Tenzin Phuntsog on his film Next Life, commitment to 35mm, the power of sound design, and protecting the creative process.
Awakening the senses through storytelling with Alison O’Daniel
What does it mean to be brave as an artist? Filmmaker and CCA faculty member Alison O’Daniel dives deep into her creative process, pursuits outside of teaching, pushing the boundaries in film, and more.
CCA faculty lead their fields and earn top honors and fellowships
Recent faculty accolades include Artadia Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices Award, and the CAA’s Distinguished Teaching of Art Award, among many others.
Curriculum
We think with our hands
Learn filmmaking at an art school
Our program covers the fundamental principles of film production, as well as specific areas of film and related audiovisual practices. Focused workshops—such as advanced editing, writing and sound for the moving image, and expanded cinema— offer intensive, collaborative experiences. As a CCA Film student, you’ll discover how your individual style fits within the aesthetic, philosophical, and social discourse of contemporary film. View sample courses.
Investigate ideas through every dimension
Every undergraduate participates in the First Year Experience, where you’ll explore a wide range of materials and tools over the course of two semesters. Faculty from different disciplines guide studio projects, group critiques, and theoretical discussions, setting you up for success throughout their major coursework.
BFA Film
Foundational Curriculum
- Drawing Studio
- 3.0 units
- 2D Studio
- 3.0 units
- 3D Studio
- 3.0 units
- 4D Studio
- 3.0 units
- Introduction to the Arts
- 3.0 units
- Introduction to the Modern Arts
- 3.0 units
- Writing 1
- 3.0 units
- Writing 2
- 3.0 units
- Foundations in Critical Studies
- 3.0 units
Film Major Requirements
- Film 1: Image and Sound
- 3.0 units
- Film Language and Form
- 3.0 units
- Film Language and Form
- 3.0 units
- Film 2: Production
- 3.0 units
- Post-Production
- 3.0 units
- Film Studio (FILMS 3700)
- 3.0 units
- Film Studio (FILMS 2700 or 3700)
- 15.0 units
- Media History: Film Genres and Practices
- 3.0 units
- Interdisciplinary Critique
- 3.0 units
- Junior Mentorship
- 3.0 units
- Junior Review
- 0.0 units
- Film 3: Advanced Production
- 3.0 units
- Senior Project: Film
- 3.0 units
- Studio Electives
- 12.0 units
Collegewide Curriculum
- Critical Ethnic Studies Studio
- 3.0 units
- Upper Division Interdisciplinary Studio
- 3.0 units
- Critical Ethnic Studies Seminar (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Literary and Performing Arts Studies (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Philosophy and Critical Theory (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Social Science/History (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Science/Math (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- History of Art and Visual Culture (2000 level)
- 3.0 units
- Humanities and Sciences Electives (2000/3000 level)
- 6.0 units
- Humanities and Sciences Electives (3000 level)
- 6.0 units
Total 123.0 units
Careers
Evolve your practice
Students graduate from film school with experience in every aspect of film and video production and are ready to make a lasting impact on contemporary cinema, visual, media, and sound arts. They find opportunities inside and outside the industry—from short documentary and narrative film projects, to experimental and multidisciplinary work, to gallery and museum exhibition.
Success stories
CCA Film alum Hong Sang-soo explores family dynamics in What Does That Nature Say to You
The Hollywood Reporter reviews Hong Sang-soo's (BFA Film/Video 1985) 33rd feature What Does That Nature Say to You, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and follows a young poet's awkward first meeting with his girlfriend's family.
Student spotlight: Qadir Parris’s creative practice knows no limits
The CCA Film student discusses his time as an artist in residence at San Francisco’s Recology, his interdisciplinary practice, and how family inspires his work.
Paul Trillo (BFA Film/Video 2007) explores human loneliness through AI in Thank You for Not Answering
The New Yorker features the filmmaker's AI-generated short film Thank You for Not Answering, which uses Runway's Gen-2 technology to explore memory and lost love through dreamlike, surreal imagery.
News and events
CCA's cinema culture
How to Apply
Express your vision through film
We look for aspiring filmmakers and artists who want to learn all the tools of cinema and who dream about expressing their vision through the moving image. Follow the link below for information on the admissions process, application due dates, scholarships, and more.
Find your creative community at CCA