Film School Facts - California

The Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University's School of Communication (AU/SOC) gives students a unique perspective on the industry as well as out-of-the-classroom learning experiences in the wild.

Guest speakers at the New York Film Academy have included professionals in all aspects of filmmaking, such as writer/director Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers), actor Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider, Blue Velvet), and editor Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York).

The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at NYU is host to the William H. Cosby Future Filmmakers Workshop, which identifies gifted students from traditionally underrepresented groups in the industry and provides an intensive 12-week filmmaking program-for free. Over 150 applicants usually compete for the program's 15 spaces.

California Institute of the Arts (or CalArts) was founded by Roy and Walt Disney in 1961 and in 2006 became the first American film school to be honored with a full retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Three-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Oliver Stone has been named artistic director of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts campus in Singapore.

With a special focus on humanism, Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television hosts the International Documentary Festival for Social Justice.

CalArts alumnus Tim Burton (Character Animation '79) has directed, written and/or produced films such as Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Mars Attacks, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, and Sweeney Todd.

Lights Film School offers an online film program covering multiple topics on film creation and distribution.

In 2000, The Los Angeles Film School opened the first fully digital High Definition Dolby Surround, THX-Certified theatre at any school in the world.

DePaul University's Digital Cinema Program lets you study and work on feature films with a professional motion picture production company at the nation's largest Catholic institution of higher education.