BFAFilm
Express your identity as a filmmaker and move beyond conventions to break new ground in cinema.
Overview
Join a creative community
As a film major at CCA, you’ll learn to master the fundamentals of filmmaking within a dynamic art school environment. Our program’s interdisciplinary culture, influenced by the college’s collaborative community and range of academic disciplines, challenges you to be creative and thought-provoking in your work. Our program’s world-class group of faculty supports the development of your personal style and artistic vision and encourages you to experiment and invent new approaches to filmmaking process and technique. You’ll graduate from the BFA Film program ready to forge exciting opportunities within the rapidly shifting landscape of contemporary cinema and media arts. Like CCA Film on Facebook for the latest updates.
Explore Film
@ccafilm
May 6, 2025
THESIS SPOTLIGHT: First Light by Miyah Nyshai Wooden (BFA 2025)
Miyah Nyshai Wooden is a filmmaker, poet, photographer, and musician from the South Side of Chicago. Her work explores intimacy, rhythm, and self-discovery through personal storytelling and community collaboration.
First Light is a dreamy portrait of intimacy—with oneself, with others, and with the world. Told through poetry, music, and memory, it’s a love letter to the beauty and complexity of connection.
May 6, 2025
THESIS SPOTLIGHT: Dreaming of Carhartt by Tariq Stone (BFA 2025)
Dreaming of Carhartt is a short film that explores the intersection of branding, nostalgia, obsession, and identity. At the center is Soren, a character with a childlike sense of wonder who becomes fixated on the iconic Carhartt jacket.
We had 90 days. From first draft of the script to the screen, Dreaming of Carhartt has been the most insane thing I’ve ever tackled on the tightest timeline as well.
I’m incredibly proud of what we have and I feel like it’s a true testament to collaboration. When I watch the film I see all the hands that made it possible, makes it so much easier to watch because watching my own work usually feels so singular which makes it harder.
Final version in the works this summer.
Director: @tjastone
Producer: @mehaamekala
Assistant Director: @theothedirector
Executive Producer: @kyle_henry @openlightfilms @joeythecatarcade @erikscollon & my mom :)
Director Of Photography: @jayguevara.dp @stevenzengdp
Composer: @smw.music
Original Music By: @pro_pain.theband
Leads: @no.gonzales @kamrynsb
Supporting Cast: @etnknuckles @d._matthew_smith
Editors / DITs: @gabbyyabut @cencere
Colorist: @color.miiin
Script Supervisor: @directed_by_joaco
Production Designer: @vampmarz
Set Dresser: @itsmomofasho
Gaffer: @laylahrndz.5
1st AC: @abasicchurro @cowlilies @maxwell.ingels
2ND AC: @iamjbre3zy
Key Grip: @jjosephayala
Sound Mixer: @mikeysoul
Boom Operator: @wadeholmquist
2ND AD / Wardrobe / Extras Coordinator / Makeup: @lyn3ett3
Grip: @mind.compassion @sam_lobster_ @leggo_my_borrego jonb.21
Ronin Operator: @sam_lobster_
VFX Supervisor & Compositor: @lewivfx
VFX Modeler, Texture, & Simulations: @willzoozowzhoularsen
BTS: @aletuzonphotos jc.exp
Communication & Graphic Designer: krishusissues
PA: @bellzbop @theyshouldvesentapoet @photos._.speak @ @kell.yduo
May 5, 2025
THESIS SPOTLIGHT: Work by Mana Macdougall (MFA 2025)
Work, is a thesis short film reflecting on the timeless story of hardworking mothers whose vital role taking care of the family and moving life forward is taken for granted and ignored in the male oriented world.
Writer and Director: Mana Macdougal
Camera Operator: Yumeng Guo
Starring: Ivy Miller, Eaon Macdougall and Patrick Greene
Showtime: 6 May 2025 at Roxie Theater, San Francisco
ttps://roxie.com/film/cca-thesis-film-showcase-2025/
May 5, 2025
TOMORROW NIGHT! Our SOLD OUT thesis showcase will be happening at the Roxie, featuring the incredible work from our graduating MFA and BFA students. Seating will start at 5:30pm, and the show will get started at 6pm. You do not want to miss this!
Need help getting a ticket? Send us a DM!
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
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.
Giselle Bailey, Chair of Film
Giselle Bailey is a Jamaican American director whose work blends documentary, narrative, and contemporary art to create content that is explosively visual and metaphorical. She is listed in DOC NYC’s celebrated 40 under 40 list and is a Concordia directorial fellow. Her recent directorial work includes HBO’s two-part documentary Seen & Heard (TBA 2025) that features icons that are transforming the TV industry, including Oprah Winfrey, Swizz Beatz, Terence Nance, Shonda Rhimes, Cord Jefferson, Lena Waithe, and Issa Rae; Netflix docu-series Ladies First; Hulu/ONYX docu-series Hair Tales; and the HBO feature documentary The Legend of the Underground, which was EP’d by John Legend and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Her work has been honored with awards and nominations by IDA, NAACP, and Critics’ Choice, among 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
Core Studio
- Drawing 1
- 3.0 units
- 2D, 3D, and 4D
- 9.0 units
Film Major Requirements
- Film 1: Image and Sound
- 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
- Junior Tutorial
- 3.0 units
- Film 3: Advanced Production
- 3.0 units
- Senior Project: Film
- 3.0 units
Additional Studio Requirements
- Interdisciplinary Critique
- 3.0 units
- Upper Division Interdisciplinary Studio
- 3.0 units
- Critical Ethnic Studies Studio
- 3.0 units
- Studio Electives
- 12.0 units
Humanities & Sciences Requirements
- Writing 1
- 3.0 units
- Writing 2
- 3.0 units
- Introduction to the Arts
- 3.0 units
- Introduction to the Modern Arts
- 3.0 units
- Foundation in Critical Studies
- 3.0 units
- Media History: Film Genres and Practices
- 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 or 3000 level, at least 6 units must be 3000 level)
- 12.0 units
Total 120.0 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.
Potential career paths
- Filmmaker/Director
- Cinematographer
- Film editor
- Screenwriter
- Visual artist
Success stories
News & 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
