An overview of the major developments in the art and industry of cinema in the Arab World and Africa, ranging from its earliest days to the most recent works of the digital era.

This course fulfills Columbia's Global Core requirement. In this seminar we will compare different national and region contexts of contemporary documentary production, including projects created within the media industries of Mexico, Peru, India, China, Cambodia, and Israel.

In this class students will enter with an idea for a film, and during the first eight sessions build a coherent treatment; that is, a summary of the events and major emotional arcs of the film's three acts.

This course seeks to take stock of cinema’s legacy by offering an overview of major topics in the history, analysis, and critical study of the medium.

Creating a good film requires more than a compelling script—it requires great producing. This class will teach students the essential steps necessary to develop, plan and prep for any low budget film production.

The TV Writing Intensive is a six-week, concentrated and encompassing introduction into the field of television writing designed to prepare students to join the professional worlds of half-hour comedies and one-hour dramas across network, cable and digital platforms. 

Students are given the opportunity to work on a next iteration of Frankenstein AI, an immersive performance in which audiences helped create and conversed with an artificial intelligence in a universe deeply inspired by Shelley’s vision of creation, isolation, and longing for connection.

In this course, we’ll learn to improvise. We’re going to take a moment-first approach to improvised scenework, leaning on our characters, emotions, and environments to keep us connected to the present. Our focus will be on strong, committed scenes; these scenes will often be funny, sometimes not.

In this course students explore the elements involved in the creation of theatre today in the historic heart of American theatre: New York City. The core elements of theatrical craft are discussed: playwriting, directing, acting, design and producing.

August 5–9—In this intensive workshop, we will use theory and practice to explore Theatre of the Oppressed, an humanist theatrical form with its roots in social justice that breaks the boundary between audience and stage and invites people to make theatre their own.

The Advanced Painting Intensive mentors a group of up to twelve students through individual and group critique, technical tutorials, exposure to the New York gallery and museum worlds, and lectures and critiques by nationally known visiting artists.

The Printmaking Intensive focuses on teaching students new and traditional printmaking techniques and developing skills on all levels through tutorials, individual and group critique, and lectures by nationally known artists.

This drawing course focuses on the fundamentals of visual vocabulary. Students work from observation using still-life objects and the human figure.

This is an intensive, six-week painting course moving from the basics of paint materials, techniques, issues of color, light, narrative and most of all representation.

An introductory course in black-and-white, Photography I is a prerequisite for advanced photography classes held in the fall and spring. Students are initially instructed in proper camera use and basic film exposure and development.

Times and days vary per session

The Photography Intensive engages students in all elements of photographic practice and the development of a portfolio. The experienced faculty are responsive to the specific needs of each photographer and the course is appropriate for students at any level.

This course introduces silkscreen and covers the fundamentals of screen printing. The silkscreen or screen printing process, also known as serigraphy, is a printmaking technique developed from stenciling.

Various times and days offered

This course is an exciting way for students to either brush up on their writing skills or create a foundation for future projects. The class will focus on craft and content, and students will receive feedback and specific, goal-oriented advice on how to write fiction.

Times vary per session.

A workshop for funny people who want to write funnier, un-funny people who want to write funny, and everyone else.

In this course, we will explore memoir as a literary genre, as well as the various ways that the genre has been tested, innovated upon, and subverted by 20th and 21st century writers and artists.

A creative writing workshop on the craft of contemporary nonfiction. We will explore nonfiction as a heterogeneous and often hybrid genre, grasping the form’s quicksilver nature by mapping some of the shapeshifting ways that nonfiction can behave: memoir, reportage, ethnography, manifesto, and more.

The Poetry Workshop is designed for all students with a serious interest in poetry writing, from those who lack significant workshop experience or training in the craft to seasoned workshop participants looking for new challenges & perspectives on their work.

Times and days vary per session.

How does a traveler become a travel writer? What makes good travel writing? Why does it matter today? This course examines and breaks down the very specific craft of travel writing.

The hallmark of a successful children’s book is a strong story that captivates children and resonates with adults. In this course, students will learn how to distinguish between crafting a story and merely describing events.

Young Adult literature is one of the fastest growing and most marketable genres. This course will introduce students to the elements and techniques that go into crafting a successful young adult novel.