Industry trade rag, The Hollywood Reporter, has published what sounds like it might be an annual list raking the 25 Best Film Schools in the world.
Any “best” lists always come with an element of subjective assessment, but THR says that that list was compiled based on polling a wide range of filmmakers and industry execs. It also provides an insight into its thinking with each listing and cherry-picks a few notable alumni. Unsurprisingly, the list is pretty US-centric, which on one hand does reflect the quality of US schools, however probably overlooks some fantastic institutions in other countries.
Only five foreign schools make the list this year: The National Film and Television School (UK), La Femis (France), Beijing Film Academy (China), The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Czech Republic), and The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School. There’s probably a couple of notable absentees here – the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School; possibly Concordia or Ryerson Universities in Canada; the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; and the Film & Television Institute of India.
Here’s the list of schools, linked to our Film Schools Directory listing page for each:
1. American Film Institute
2. University of Southern California
3. Beijing Film Academy
4. New York University Tisch School of the Arts
5. University of California Los Angeles
6. California Institute of the Arts
7. The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
8. Columbia University School of the Arts
9. Wesleyan University
10. The National Film and Television School
11. La Femis
12. University of North Carolina School of the Arts
13. University of Texas at Austin
14. The Polish National Film, Television and Theater School
15. Syracuse University
16. Stanford University
17. Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts
18. Emerson Visual and Media Arts School
19. Loyola Marymount University
20. University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee
21. Rhode Island School of Design
22. Chapman University Dodge College of Film & Media Arts
23. Ringling College of Art and Design
24. Northwestern University
25. Colorado Film School
Get the full details on why these schools made the list from the 25 Best Film Schools Rankings at The Hollywood Reporter web site. You may need to be a subscriber if you’re trying to view this article more than a month or two after it was published.
