Australian Film Television and Radio School
Australia’s finest film and television school draws applicants from far and wide with its picturesque Sydney campus and many lecturers with deep ties to the Australian screen industry. Notable alumni include The Power of the Dog Oscar winner Jane Campion and Poor Things screenwriter Tony McNamara and a long list of accomplished craftspeople like Margaret Sixel (editing on Mad Max: Fury Road), David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road) and Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings). In July, AFTRS also tapped Peter Noble, a local industry veteran of Indigenous background, to serve as director of the school’s First Nations and Outreach program, which develops training pathways for emerging and experienced industry practitioners from Australia’s culturally and racially marginalized groups.
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Beijing Film Academy
The de facto USC of the world’s second-largest movie market, the BFA was established in 1950 and has birthed the careers of China’s most esteemed filmmakers, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Jia Zhangke, plus A-list actors like Huang Xiaoming, Yao Chen and Huang Bo. Students enjoy access to cutting-edge production equipment at the academy’s four professional film studios. They also can exhibit their work at the BFA-hosted International Student Film and Video Festival, one of China’s most important platforms for emerging talent.
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Italy)
Italy can boast about having the oldest — the CSC turns 90 next year — and one of the best film schools in Europe. The national institution is actually a network of local campuses across Italy specializing in different top- and below-the-line professions, from directing to film restoration. A new location on the island of San Servolo in Venice focuses on virtual reality production. Small classes (typically between six and 14 per course) and reasonable tuition of about 3,000 euros ($3,200) annually for a three-year degree make the CSC particularly appealing, but selection is highly competitive. And a working knowledge of both Italian and English is required.
HFF Munich (Germany)
Germany has a number of top film schools, but the HFF, in the heart of Munich’s Kunstareal museum quarter, boasts the most impressive list of alumni, ranging from directors Wim Wenders, Roland Emmerich and Maren Ade to such acclaimed producers as Bernd Eichinger (Downfall) and Janine Jackowski (Spencer). Offering degree programs in feature and documentary directing, producing, screenwriting, cinematography and VFX, Munich is notoriously selective, and German language proficiency is required. But you can’t beat the tuition. Like all German state universities, it’s free, with students required only to pay a student union fee of about 85 euros ($90) each semester.
ECAM (Spain)
Few film schools have launched their own movie markets, but that’s what Madrid’s ECAM (Escuela de Cinematografía y del Audiovisual de Madrid) did in June with its inaugural ECAM Forum, featuring a stellar list of new Spanish projects and co- productions seeking partners and funding. ECAM always has stood out among European film schools for its industry-facing approach that aims to connect students with job opportunities in the (now booming) Spanish film and TV business and nurture talent during and after graduation. The school notes that more than 72 percent of its students (about a quarter of whom are international) get a job after finishing their studies.
ESCAC (Spain)
Spanish box office champ Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible, Society of the Snow) and art house darling Mar Coll (Three Days With the Family) are among the acclaimed alumni of the Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC), in Terrassa, north of Barcelona. The school offers bachelor’s, master’s and post-graduate degrees, in Spanish, across most professional fields, as well as a one-year introductory filmmaking course in English and a bilingual stunt academy to train the next generation of fall guys.
La Fémis (France)
La Fémis prides itself on its exclusivity — fewer than 5 percent of applicants are accepted every year, with only six students for each of its seven core programs in directing, producing and screenwriting. But graduates have an impressive hit rate, with the school’s alumni reading like a who’s who of French cinema history, from Alain Resnais, Costa-Gavras and Louis Malle through Claire Denis, François Ozon, Julia Ducournau and Céline Sciamma. All courses are in French, but applications are open to all. Non-EU citizens, however, have to pay steeper tuition, about 8,000 euros ($8,700) annually.
Gobelins, l’école de l’image (France)
Gobelins’ reputation as the world’s top animation school is hard to refute. The French institution, with campuses in Paris and Annecy, site of the legendary animation film festival, boasts alumni — Pierre Coffin of Despicable Me and Minions, Ernest & Celestine filmmaker Benjamin Renner, Monster in Paris director Bibo Bergeron — who count among the most successful and acclaimed in the business. Offering degrees in French and English, the school covers instruction in all aspects of animation, from directing to graphics and design.
Lodz Film School (Poland)
One of Europe’s oldest film schools, with an alumni list that runs from Oscar-winning directors Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda through legendary auteur Krzysztof Kieślowski and an astounding number of world-class cinematographers (Pawel Edelman, Dariusz Wolski, Lukasz Zal), Lodz offers full- and part-time instruction to work toward a bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D. Tuition-free for EU citizens, international students can expect to shell out between 4,000 to 11,000 euros ($4,300-$12,000) a year depending on the program. All courses are in Polish, but the university offers a yearlong Polish-language course to anyone accepted before they begin their studies.
London Film School (U.K.)
The U.K.’s oldest film school, LFS became the first in the world to have three live-action student films feature in Cannes over three consecutive years when Praeis, from Lithuanian director and LFS alumni Dovydas Draksas, was selected for the fest’s film-school section La Cinef. Among its other successes in 2024 was the world premiere of Tuesday, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus from former LFS student Daina Pusic, at the Telluride Film Festival in August. It went on to premiere at the London Film Festival in October.
National Film and Television School (U.K.)
The NFTS has continued to fortify its reputation as one of Britain’s most prestigious institutions. At the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, student-made productions Crab Day and Jellyfish and Lobster were awarded BAFTAs in the British Short Animation and British Short Film categories. More than 60 NFTS graduates contributed to the making of The Crown across its six seasons, and funding established by the auctioning of 450-plus props from the Netflix series raised 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) to support 100 students attending NFTS over the next 20 years as part of the Left Bank Pictures-The Crown Scholarship program. In Cannes, NFTS animation Bunnyhood premiered at La Cinef, winning third prize, and in March, the NFTS secured funding of 10 million pounds ($12.8 million) from the U.K. government to expand its Beaconsfield Studios.
FAMU Prague (Czech Republic)
The Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague can say it inspired a cinema revolution. The Czechoslovak New Wave of the 1960s sprung mainly from such FAMU students as Milos Forman, Vera Chytilová, Jirí Menzel and Jaromil Jires, who created a new dark and funny take on life behind the Iron Curtain. A generation after the end of the Cold War, FAMU remains one of Europe’s top-tier film schools, offering one-year intensive programs and two- and three-year master’s degrees in directing, cinematography and editing, including accredited programs in English.
Toronto Film School
With crucial industry access in Canada’s biggest media market, TFS offers degrees in film production, film and TV writing and stage and screen acting. The private college, with a focus on launching careers in film, entertainment, fashion, design and video games, is also working with Hollywood studio partners on possible joint training in postproduction supervision, line producing and business affairs, among other advanced career options. With a focus on hands-on training, TFS has just unveiled a deal with Sony of Canada to supply the school and its students with the company’s latest professional camera gear and hands-on training via workshops and master classes with Sony experts.
Vancouver Film School
VFS has added to its 15 post-secondary programs, including film, animation, video game and VFX production, with a new Virtual Art Department Content Creation program. In partnership with Pixomondo, the course will focus on virtual production in visual effects. And in another collaboration, this time with General Motors, 3D Animation and VFX students will get experience working on TV advertising and other marketing campaigns for major auto brands.
Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)
Located just next door to Peter Jackson’s New Zealand moviemaking empire, Victoria University of Wellington’s high-tech Miramar Creative Center offers a wealth of internship and post-graduate connections at flagship facilities like Weta Group, Park Road Post and Stone Street Studios. Victoria University of Wellington is New Zealand’s largest specialized film program, while the MCC’s emphasis is on cultivating hands-on practical expertise.
This story first appeared in the August 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
