CU Denver Named to MovieMaker Magazine's List of the 40 Best Film Schools of 2022
CU Denver is the only film school in Colorado featured on the list and shares the recognition with other notable schools located throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Megan Briggs Pintel | College of Arts & Media Jul 28, 2022
Denver – July 28, 2022 – CU Denver Film & Television (FiTV) has been named one of MovieMaker’s 40 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada of 2022. The annual list recognizes schools that prepare students for every aspect of moviemaking—spanning world-renowned universities as well as rising, surprisingly affordable institutions.
“It is an honor that CU Denver has been named one of the top 40 film schools by MovieMaker magazine. FiTV is poised on the cusp of great things, and I am proud that this is my twelfth-year teaching in the screenwriting department here,” says faculty member Roma Sur.
CU Denver’s unique film program offers students a chance at both Hollywood and Bollywood on-site industry experience. The school’s ArtsHub Asia study abroad program offers an immersive experience for a full semester in Singapore (2022), Malaysia or Mumbai (2023). As part of the Bollywood Connections study abroad program, students collaborate with their cohorts at Whistling Woods International to write and produce a short film on location in Film City, Mumbai. Those with Hollywood in their sights can benefit from an internship program organized by faculty member and Hollywood-veteran Eric Jewett.
Beginning fall 2022, even students who don’t travel abroad will still gain an international film perspective through the help of three visiting scholars from Mexico. CU Denver’s partnership with the COMEXUS: Becas Fulbright-García Robles organization runs through 2027, allowing the University to host many more outstanding visiting scholars over the next five years.
With FiTV's signature program, Producing the Episodic Web Series, students get intense production experience while using state-of-the-art equipment. “By the end of the four-year BFA program, students graduate with a robust reel of about 20 films on their portfolio,” Sur explains. They have had hands-on learning in the craft of screenwriting—fiction and non-fiction, feature film writing, documentary filmmaking, producing, sound design and cinematography. Graduates of FiTV have worked on the Oscar-winning documentary, Saving Face; shows like The Walking Dead, General Hospital, Broad City, and others, while gaining employment from companies such as Universal Studios and Warner Brothers productions.
Other distinctions MovieMaker highlighted included a production-based curriculum and the University’s “reasonable” tuition. “We sought out a range of schools that are affordable, recognized throughout the industry, very career-focused, and ideally all three,” says MovieMaker editor-in-chief Tim Molloy.
CU Denver is the only film school in Colorado featured on the list and shares the recognition with other notable schools located throughout the U.S. and Canada.
MovieMaker is dedicated to the art and craft of making movies. The list of the 40 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada in 2022 appears in the magazine’s newest issue, with Emily the Criminal star Aubrey Plaza on the cover.