10 Best Film Schools in New York City

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.” – Oscar Wilde. With the rise and influx of media content in the 21st century, films, television and all avenues of new media have become an incredibly intrinsic part of society. If you want to dip your toe into the world of entertainment, there’s no better city than New York. We’ve curated a list of the 10 best film schools in New York city to help you on your journey to the industry. 

Pratt Institute School of Art

Location: Brooklyn 
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts 

The Pratt Institute is a private university that houses over 5000 undergrad and graduate students. The Institute’s School of Arts is not only a spectacular place for students to receive a well-rounded education, but it is also home to one of the best film schools in New York City. The school has eight different departments, one of which is the department of Film and Television. 

The school houses an impressive roster of faculty and staff, many of whom are professional filmmakers and artists. Their years of knowledge and experience ensure that students are getting the best education possible to start off their careers in the industry. Students will get the chance to learn everything from narrative and documentary scriptwriting to shooting and editing experimental and feature films. 

Notable alumni:  The 4-time Academy Award nominee, the Sundance Kid himself, Robert Redford, graduated from the Institute's School of Art as a painting major. 

Kanbar Institute of Film and Television

Location: Noho
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A part of New York University’s Tisch School of Arts, the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television is one of the best film schools in New York City. The institute is named after American entrepreneur Maurice Kanbar, who was a big supporter of the arts, donating over $5 million to the Tisch School of Art. The institute has four different departments where students can pursue a range of disciplines, from script writing to film production. 

The Kanbar Institute is well renowned for its star-studded faculty and guest lecturers. Famous director, producer and writer Spike Lee has worked on renowned films like Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, is a professor of Film and Artistic Direction at the school and has often gone on record to talk about the joy he feels from teaching at the institute. 

Notable alumni: The school of arts has produced a number of outstanding directors like Christopher Columbus (director of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), Jon Watts (director of Spiderman: Homecoming) and Sally Menke (director of Pulp Fiction). 

New York Film Academy

Location: Financial District 
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA), Associate of Fine Arts (AFA)

Founded in 1992, the New York Film Academy prides itself on being one of the most hands-on film schools in the country. The Academy was formed on the principle that “learning by doing” is the best way for budding filmmakers and actors to start off their careers. They believe that practical knowledge of the filmmaking process is much more than decades worth of studying purely theory. 

The New York Film Academy is one of the best film schools in New York City and has a star-studded lineup of guest lecturers, including the likes of Seth Rogen, Bryan Cranstone, Glenn Close, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kim Cattrall. Apart from traditional degree programs, the academy also offers students camps, short-term workshops, and conservatory-style programs. If you opt for a traditional degree-style program, the university lets students write, direct and produce feature-length films in a mini film crew in their first year itself. 

Notable alumni: A fairly new academy, some of the fresher talent on screen, like Camilla Ludington (most famous for her role as Jo Wilson on Grey’s Anatomy), are part of the alumnus of NYFA. 

CCNY Division of Humanities and Arts

Location: Upper Manhattan
Degrees offered:  Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA)

Founded in 1847, the City College of New York is the founding institution of the City University of New York. CCNY itself is a very well-reputed university known for its famous alumni who discovered the polio vaccine, helped build the Internet, designed the Panama Canal, and the university is also the location where Albert Einstein first presented his theory of general relativity outside of Europe.

The university’s Department of Media and Communication Arts within in humanities and arts division is one of the best film schools in New York City and offers students a broad range of essential technical and critical studies courses in the art and craft of fiction and documentary production. Students discover their creative voice while learning how to construct their own 16mm film and digital video projects while immersed in a liberal arts academic environment.

Notable alumni: The mastermind behind 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shinning, A Clockwork Orange and many, many more, Stanley Kubrick is one of the most alumni of CCNY.

Brooklyn College: School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts

Location: Brooklyn 
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA)

Another College under the City University of New York, Brooklyn College, is a public university with a 35 acres campus and over 15000 undergraduate and 2500 graduate students. The university’s motto is “Nothing without great effort,” ensuring that their students are giving their best at whatever they do. The university prides itself on being transformative, distinctive and flexible, offering their students a lot of academic freedom.

The college’s School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts is one of the best film schools in New York City and offers its students a variety of film programs in different disciplines, including film production, screenwriting, industry studies and documentary production. They also offer an undergraduate program in Television and Radio for students that are interested in these two avenues of new media. 

Notable Alumni: Popular actor James Franco (known for playing Harry Osborne in Sony’s Spiderman trilogy) pursued an MFA in film writing from Brooklyn college. 

Hunter College School of Arts and Sciences

Location: Upper East Side
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Another public university in New York, Hunter College and houses over 13,000 undergraduate students and has an acceptance rate of over 40%. Hunter College has ten different schools, among which the college’s department of arts and design houses one of the best film schools in New York City. The department of arts and design has over 460 full-time faculty members along with over 30 different educational programs.

The college’s film and media department has two separate study paths for students: film production and film analysis. The film production major allows students the chance to learn the basics of the entire filmmaking process while the film analysis track, allow students to get a comprehensive understanding of what goes into a good film and how films and other media products fit into society at large. 

Notable alumni: Being one of the best film schools in new york city, its no surprise that Hunter College is the alma mater of actors such as Vin Diesel, Ed Burns, Ellen Barkins and Eva Condon. 

Pace University

Location: Financial District
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Pace University is a private university in New York City with auxiliary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was founded in 1906 as a business school by the brother's Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace, and is not only one of the best private universities in the country, but is also home to one of the best film schools in New York City. 

Pace university offers its students a state-of-the-art program in digital filmmaking that allows students to learn the entire process of making a film from start to finish. Being one of the best film schools in New York City, the programme is incredibly well structured,  combining the aesthetics of filmmaking, technical camera training, and hands-on production, allowing students to receive a comprehensive understanding of the process of creating fiction and non-fiction films.

Notable alumni: Popular Kpop singer Ailee studied at Pace University before dropping out to pursue her singing career. 

Barnard College

Location: Harlem 
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA)

Founded in 1889, Barnard is an all women’s institution, dedicated to providing quality education to all its students in a variety of different fields. Primarily known for its business school, Barnard is also home to one of the best film schools in New York city. One of the top colleges in the country, Barnard, is known for having an extraordinary range of resources. 

Home to one of the best film schools in New York City, Barnard's Film Studies Program was founded in 2002 as a major for students interested in the history, theory, and practice of film and filmmaking. Visual narrative, film technology, and the economic and sociopolitical environment of the film business are all introduced to students.

Notable alumni: Barnard College has produced a number of successful personalities like Joan Rivers, Martha Stewart and Greta Gerwig.

Columbia University School of the Arts 

Location: Morningside Heights 
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA)

One of the prestigious  Ivy League schools of the United States, Columbia University houses one of the best film schools in New York City.  Founded in 1965, the University’s School of the Arts (commonly known as the School of the Arts or SoA) has some of the best faculty and resources in the world available to students who study here. 

The School of the Arts includes one of the best film schools in New York City, with a curriculum that promotes creativity, hard work and innovation. Their faculty is home to professionals that are widely respected in Hollywood, including Academy Award-winning director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Milos Forman. 

Notable alumni: Being one of the best film schools in New York city, it's unsurprising that the first-ever female winner of the Academy Award for best director Kathryn Bigelow, is one of the university’s most famous alumni. 

NYU College of Arts and Science 

Location: Noho
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA)

Established in 1831,  NYU has been a leader in higher education, embracing an urban identity and professional focus, reaching out to an expanding middle class, and fostering a global vision that guides its 19 schools and colleges, including one of the best film schools in New York City.

Their college of Arts and Science has one of the top film schools in New York City, which gives students access to some of the best resources in the world, to help get them started on their careers in the industry. Their film program allows them to learn all of the practical and theoretical knowledge they need to learn how to become successful filmmakers. 

Notable alumni: Lady Gaga, Martin Scorsese and Angelina Jolie are all some notable alumni from one of the best film schools in NYC. 

That was our list of the 10 best film schools in New York city. We hope you’ve found this helpful and are now better equipped to choose your next university! New York is a great city to get an education. Read all about what the city has to offer in our detailed NYC city guide and find out the most fun things to do in New York in December.