Call for Applications: Graduate Degrees in Film/Cinema & Media Studies at York University

• MA or PhD in Cinema and Media Studies
• MFA in Film Production or Screenwriting
• Joint MA-MBA or MFA-MBA with the Schulich School of Business.

Applicants who apply by January 15, 2021 will be given first consideration. Applicants will be contacted by late February – early March 2021. Late applications may be considered.

Apply here for MFA and here for MA/PhD

Since our inception in 1980 as Canada’s first Graduate Program in Film, our community of award-winning faculty, supportive staff, outstanding students, and successful alums has stimulated comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and rigorous engagement with the moving image in all its forms, both historical and contemporary.

Building on York’s longstanding commitment to deliver innovative and accessible post-graduate training and rooted in the centre of English Canadian film and media culture and production, the Graduate Program in Film/Cinema & Media Studies offers a curriculum that encourages dynamic and collaborative interactions between creative artists and scholarly researchers.

In our two-year MA and MFA programs, flexible, interdisciplinary, student-centred curriculum allows students the freedom to fulfill their unique academic, creative and professional aspirations with ample time to benefit from York University’s rich tradition of being at the vanguard of interdisciplinary research, media creation, knowledge mobilization, and dedication to social justice, diversity, equity, and sustainability.

Canada’s most respected graduate MFA in Film Production and Screenwriting leads students to confront the challenges posed by the fast-changing worlds of digital cinema and transmedia platforms. The MA in Cinema & Media Studies emphasizes the critical study of a broad range of film and media in a small cohort of highly motivated students. Each student creates an individually tailored program from our dynamic range of courses, and from our diverse workshops, partnerships, internships, and research labs. Together students engage evolving theories and practices of global and local cinema and media, including new directions in post-colonial, feminist, queer, Indigenous, and underground expression, and media forms like film, television, games, and expanded cinema like augmented and virtual reality. Expertly guided by chosen faculty, the MFA program culminates in the creation of an original Thesis project, while the MA program has a Major Research Paper as its capstone.

Domestic Master’s students receive base funding of $10,000/year + York’s $1000 FGS Healthcare Bursary. With York University’s emphasis on access in higher education, our graduate students pay the lowest graduate tuition in Ontario. Admission scholarships and awards are also available. In recent years, over 70% of MA & MFA students have received additional funding through awards like CGS-M ($17,500/year) and OGS ($15,000/year), usually in their second year, in part due to the Program’s emphasis on strong professional development, including grant writing. MFA students are provided with in-kind equipment/services grants from a wide range of Toronto co-ops, equipment houses and post-production facilities, and production grants from donors.

Teaching, publication, and professional academic development are key components of the PhD, a minimum four-year degree with guaranteed funding for five years. In addition to generous York professional development funds, our students receive national, provincial and university-wide scholarships and awards. Current PhD students include Vanier, Elia, Trillium scholars, and numerous SSHRC and OGS doctoral awards.

Outstanding faculty are leaders in their fields; three faculty members are current or former Canada Research Chairs and all of our faculty participate actively in international and Canadian festivals, conferences, and publish widely. Many of our faculty pursue interdisciplinary research methodologies, including research creation, an increasingly popular option in the PhD program.

Our students, faculty, and large alumni network are part of Toronto’s lively and diverse film and media culture and its many opportunities for festival programming, curation, symposia, and lectures. The City of Toronto, housing Canada’s most important media industry infrastructure, provides students with exceptional opportunities for field placements, access to film screenings, museums and galleries, festivals (over 100 film festivals occur each year, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Reel Asian, and Images Festival, and resources like the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers (LIFT), the Ontario Archives (now housed on York University campus), TIFF’s Film Reference Library, and other unique research collections.

In the MA & PhD programs, we welcome applicants with educational backgrounds in Cinema/Film Studies, Media Studies, Communications, Cultural Studies, Digital Media, Art History, English, Women’s Studies, Queer and Sexuality Studies, History, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, Education, Urban Studies, and other disciplines that nurture research in sound and moving image media. The MFA film production and screenwriting program is catered mainly towards mid-career filmmakers with a track record in producing media.

For students preparing for a future in the media industries, we also offer a 3-year joint MA/MBA or MFA/MBA degree with the world-renowned Schulich School of Business. Most students undertaking the joint degrees take their first year in the Graduate Program in Film/Cinema & Media Studies, and start the MBA portion in their second year.

Each year the program selects a small group of exceptional students to join its vigorous and stimulating intellectual community, where students attend small and engaging seminars and receive close attention from faculty supervisors. Our degree programs provide specialized training for careers in academic, research, and government organizations and arts and entertainment industries (television, film, new media, including festivals), and in jobs in producing, programming and curation, teaching, critical writing and publishing, publicity, among others.

Students interested in the PhD programs are encouraged to contact Prof. Janine Marchessault, PhD Graduate Program Director, jmarches@yorku.ca.

Students interested in the MFA and MA program are encouraged to contact Prof. Manfred Becker, Graduate Program Director, bmanfred@yorku.ca.

For questions related to the application process please contact Kuowei Lee, Graduate Program Assistant, filmgpa@yorku.ca.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: JANUARY 15, 2021

futurestudents.yorku.ca/graduate/programs/cinema-and-media-studies
futurestudents.yorku.ca/graduate/programs/film

Graduate Program in Film
Department of Cinema and Media Arts
School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design
York University
Centre for Film and Theatre 224
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 CANADA
Tel: 416-736-2100 x 22174
film.gradstudies.yorku.ca