Cinema/Media

The Cinema/Media track focuses on history, theory, and critical approaches to the study of cinema and media, including social media platforms such as YouTube, Instragram, Twitch, TikTok, and more. This includes an introduction to historiography and the study of film style, genre, auteurs, silent and sound cinemas, the avant-garde, national cinemas, the political economy of world cinema, the transition from photochemical film to digital, and film and digital archives. The track also introduces an overview of current developments in film theory and critical thinking in relation to issues of race, gender, and sexuality; documentary; new media; cinephilia; spectatorship, and other major concerns in the field.

Students can choose electives both from the School of the Arts and from Columbia University Arts departments. They do so, furthermore, in a world capital of film and television culture, where they are afforded the advantages of research in New York area film and television archives and libraries: New York Public Library, The Paley Center for Media, and have held internships at Museum of the Moving Image, Museum of Modern Art, and Film Society of Lincoln Center.

View detailed coursework and degree requirements to learn more.