San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University
Cinema Department
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
415-338-1629 (voice)
415-338-0906 (FAX)

The Cinema Department at San Francisco State University was founded amid the political activism and artistic experimentation of the 1960's. Today, as then, the Cinema Department is committed to a curriculum which recognizes cinema to be an independent, powerful and unique medium in the world. Cinema programs combine theory and practice; students are encouraged to engage in scholarship and to pursue production in all forms of cinematic expression.

The goal of undergraduate instruction in the Cinema Department is to foster creative, critical and independent endeavor as part of a liberal arts education. Students in the B.A. program study film history, film theory and critical studies alongside screenwriting and production.

A specialized animation curriculum provides students with a foundation in the processes involved in developing animated films from initial planning through shooting and post-production. Students work in a variety of techniques, including cel, model, computer and effects animation. Advanced animation study can emphasize either film animation or computer animation.

The M.A. in Cinema Studies enables students to pursue research and writing in selected areas of film scholarship. The M.F.A. in Cinema provides students with rigorous, professional training in cinema production in conjunction with an understanding of film history, theory and aesthetics. M.F.A. students explore current and emerging cinema technologies and are encouraged to develop new modes of expression; this program also prepares filmmakers who wish to teach cinema at the college or university level.

The Cinema Department is housed in one of the most comprehensive and modern production facilities in Northern California. The state-of-the-art facility includes the 150-seat August Coppola Theatre, a 2500 square-foot shooting stage, editing and post-production areas for both analog and digital media, sound recording and mixing studios with digital audio workstations, an animation studio with film and computer workstations, an on-line digital cinema lab and a cinema studies center.

SFSU cinema graduates often work as independent film producers or in varying capacities within the film industry &emdash; as producers, directors, cinematographers, sound or picture editors, screenwriters, sound recordists and mixers, animators, and multimedia artists. Many B.A. graduates continue with advanced studies in either production or theory/criticism. In particular, the M.A. prepares graduates to work in areas of applied film scholarship or to pursue doctoral study in cinema. The M.F.A. degree prepares graduates to work as independent producers, to assume creative professional roles within the film industry, or to teach at the college or university level.