City Film - The MFA in Film Program at CCNY

Home
United States
New York, NY
City Film - The MFA in Film Program at CCNY

Call Directions Website Contact the organization

2-year MFA in Film at CCNY offering Documentary & Fiction tracks in an affordable & accessible public university. Now accepting applications for Fall 2018!

APPLY NOW: http://city-film.org/admissions/ The M.F.A. program mentors a small, selective group of students to become the next generation of original voices in independent filmmaking. We foster the creation of compelling, daring, and visually stimulating short films in documentary or fiction. Ours is a hands-on program where students workshop their ideas in the field, directing their own short films and crewing on those of classmates. Students direct their thesis projects in the second year and also serve as Cinematographer, Editor or Producer on at least one other thesis production. Our students leave the program having completed professional, broadcast quality work. They are required to create a full distribution strategy for their thesis films that are launched into the festival circuit at Cityvisions, our annual film showcase held in June at The Director Guild of America Theater. Recent graduates have won student Oscars and Emmies, and their work has been selected for Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Moscow, Munich, Tribeca, Rotterdam, South By Southwest, and other premiere film festivals.

11/05/2026

On Tuesday, Sept 30, Kenyan-born British filmmaker of Indian origin, Gurinder Chadha, hosted a masterclass for MFA and BFA in film students at The City College of New York.

Best known for the beloved film Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Chadha’s work celebrates the experiences of Indian women and immigrant communities navigating life between traditional values and modern British culture.

Chadha’s films have earned numerous awards and nominations throughout her distinguished film career. Bend It Like Beckham (2002), in particular, received widespread recognition, winning awards at prestigious festivals including the Dinard British Film Festival, East Lansing Film Festival, Guild of German Art House Cinemas and Locarno Film Festival, among others.

Her internationally acclaimed body of work also includes Bhaji on the Beach, Bride & Prejudice, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, Viceroy’s House, Blinded by the Light and Christmas Karma.

10/22/2026

On Wednesday, Sept. 23rd, Laura Poitras, acclaimed American documentary filmmaker, journalist, and artist, taught a masterclass to MFA and BFA in film students at The City College of New York.

Poitras is celebrated for her fearless, deeply investigative work on politics, power, and human rights. She is best known for directing My Country, My Country, Citizenfour, and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, films that have earned widespread critical recognition for their urgency and impact.

Her documentary Citizenfour, which chronicles Edward Snowden and the NSA surveillance revelations, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and brought her international prominence. She has also received major recognition for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival as well as a Peabody Award.

Across her career, Poitras has built a reputation for creating bold, award-winning documentaries that combine journalistic rigor with poignant storytelling.

10/16/2026

PARIS WAS A WOMAN, Greta Schiller’s landmark documentary, opens in a new 4K restoration at Metrograph on Friday, October 16 for an exclusive New York limited engagement marking the film’s 30th anniversary.

DAY 1: Join us for an in-person Q&A with Greta Schiller and writer/producer Andrea Weiss, moderated by journalist Laura Flanders following the 6:40 PM screening on Friday, October 16. Special introductions and book signings are also scheduled.

Swipe for more info ➡️

Drawing on uncovered home movies and groundbreaking research, PARIS WAS A WOMAN offers an intimate portrait of the community of women writers, artists, photographers, and editors who turned Paris’s Left Bank into the cultural capital of the world in the early decades of the twentieth century - including Colette, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Featuring evocative narration by Juliet Stevenson, the film has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “elegant and illuminating,” while The New York Times called it “the next best thing” to time travel to a golden age.

Swipe for more info ➡️

DAY 2: Q&A moderated by Jane Gaines, founder of Columbia University’s Women Film Pioneers Project, following the 2:30 PM screening on Saturday, October 17. Prof. Andrea Weiss will sign copies of her book Paris Was a Woman, on which the film is based.

Swipe for more info ➡️

DAY 3: Introduction by Sandra Schulberg, President of IndieCollect, before the 6:45 PM screening on Sunday, October 18. Prof. Andrea Weiss will sign copies of her book Paris Was a Woman, on which the film is based.

10/09/2026

🎥The African American Film Critics Association () is back with the 3rd Annual AAFCA Afro-Latino Short Film Competition!

Join live on October 10, 2026 from 10:00AM to 4:00PM in Shepard Hall at The City College of New York as the AAFCA celebrates the top nine films of the 2026 competition.

The AAFCA offers a platform for original storytelling, exploring the themes and issues shaping Afro-Latino identity.

10/09/2026

Friday Fall Roundup! Take a look at what the City Film Program has been up to.

The Emerging Voices Festival is a TAFFNY tradition, celebrating the MFA and BFA film programs at The City College of New York, housing one of the oldest film schools in the nation.

On October 2, TAFFNY3 honored a special showcase of emerging film makers and unique voices at the Instituto Cervantes New York, joined by Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams Director, Writer, Producer. Hannah Sutherland won for her Documentary, Daughter from Xuanen.

On September 30th, Gurinder Chadha, internationally renowned film director of the 2002 film Bend it Like Beckham, presented a masterclass to MFA and BFA City College film students.

Gurinder Chadha, OBE 💙’s films often explore the lives of South Asians living in the UK. She has also directed films such as Bhaji on the Beach, Bride and Prejudice, and Viceroy’s House.

On September 23rd, documentary Academy Award winning filmmaker and investigative journalist Laura Poitras presented a master class to MFA and BFA City College film students.

Laura Poitras won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Citizenfour, a documentary about Edward Snowden’s NSA disclosures. Laura is also known for My Country, My Country, The Oath, and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.

Nicolás Palacio won the IFDA Competition for Best Short Documentary for his film One Early Morning, the Alligator Swallowed Me, Una madrugada soñé qué me tragó el caimán.

The short documentary is set in the northern Colombian town of Plato, known for the legend of the Alligator Man, a shapeshifter who disguises himself to spy on unsuspecting women in the river. The film is a beautiful exploration of local folklore and the wetlands that house these stories. This striking film connects the past with the present, the reality and the myth.

05/21/2026

Meet Matt Lucerna! Matt is an NYC based filmmaker and freelance photographer/videographer. He has worked for nearly 5 years covering multiple projects and events ranging from short films, music videos, open mics, outdoor & studio photoshoots. As a filmmaker, Matt has worked various crew roles on set. The areas in which he specializes the most are writing, directing, & cinematography. While he has a strong passion for the fictional worlds of narrative storytelling, Matt is devoted to working on stories with social commentary on issues not often talked about or misrepresented in the industry.

“Stronger Than You Know” is a coming-of-age drama revolving around a young and naïve high school student named Dominic. Dominic has little self-esteem and tries to fit in with a group of students led by a bully named Ulysses, who manipulates and abuses Dominic for his
own entertainment. Dominic does very little to stand up to him. However, an unexpected incident makes Dominic see his bully in a much different light.

05/21/2026

Meet Benjamin Hom! Benjamin is a writer, director, and editor from New York City. He studied film at Hunter College, earning an undergraduate degree in fiction. After some time as an elementary school teacher, Hom enrolled in City College to begin his Master of Fine Arts in nonfiction film. His debut documentary short film, Snake Mouth, will be screened at CityVisions in May of 2026. Hom hopes to continue teaching and begin making feature films in both documentary and fiction.

“Snake Mouth” synopsis: Fifty-five years ago, Tony Pang risked his life to escape mainland China by swimming across the South China Sea. He and two friends swam five hours in the pitch-black night from Guangzhou to Hong Kong in search of a better life. This tale has had an impact on his youngest son, Daniel, who has always wanted to share his favorite bedtime story with the rest of the world.

05/21/2026

Meet Natalie Mahoney! Natalie is a multi-award winning creative from Staten Island, NY. Natalie received her B.A in TV/Film from DeSales University ‘24 and is grateful to be finishing her M.F.A from The City College of New York. She has experience in both filmmaking and helping young creatives conceive, construct, and produce their own projects. Natalie wants to be able to inspire and encourage others with her work, and watch others tell their own stories through the many mediums of the arts!

In “Meet Me at the End,” a teenage girl named Sawyer embarks on a relationship with another girl, Carys. Although everything seems to be going her way, she hides the relationship from her ignorant mother, worried she won’t love her for who she is. Sawyer confides in her friend Eli, but rather than finding support, he feigns
concern using faith to make her feel that she’ll be shunned by her mother. This leads to a deep conflict
between sexuality and faith.

05/21/2026

Meet Sher Bautista! Filipino filmmaker Sher Bautista grew up as a third culture kid whose work centers on themes of identity, memory, and migration. She co-produced the award-winning feature Delia and Sammy (CineFilipino 2017), which went on to screen at international festivals including Austin, All Lights India, Ortigia, and Hanoi. A Tropfest finalist for her short film Commune (2015), Sher also co-wrote the television series The Boston: A Kitchen Musical (2013). Aside from her film projects, she is also a published author having co-written the children’s book Tasha and Pierre (2019). She is currently completing her MFA in Film and developing her thesis project, Tales My Father Told.

In “Tales My Father Told,” Leon works as a dishwasher in a busy New York deli. His co-workers know very little about him besides the fact that he is never absent at work, is good at crossword puzzles, and is a dependable part of the crew. The highlight of Leon’s days are the early morning phone calls to his wife Angie, and daughter Audrine, whom he was forced to leave behind in the Philippines. Audrine, extremely saddened that Leon cannot make it home for her birthday, starts having nightmares, and insists on talking to her father more and more often. He tries to alleviate Audrine’s anxiety by making up bedtime stories about a dishwasher escaping monsters in New York and offers to buy her whatever gift she wants.
Audrine asks for a particular American Girl Doll which Leon finds out costs more than he can afford. With the help of his manager at work, Leon finds a way to make the extra cash needed to buy the gift, but later finds that life in the city doesn’t always work out the way we imagine.

05/21/2026

Meet Dylan LaRay! Dylan LaRay is an award-winning writer, director, and actor based in New York City.
As an actor, he is best known for his critically acclaimed performance in the feature-length body horror film, Fang (2022), for which he received multiple accolades. He has accrued 100+ credits in plays, musicals, commercials, and he made his network episodic debut as a costar on HBO’s Task opposite Mark Ruffalo.
As a filmmaker, LaRay has explored a wide array of film genres from absurd horror and experimental comedies to uplifting documentaries and intimate dramas. As a q***r artist, his work often includes themes that challenge traditional social structures while examining
complex human stories that resist simple moral categorization. LaRay was the recipient of a BAFTA U.S. scholarship and the Ostrovsky Family Fund Award in honor of Chantal Akerman, both of which were used to produce his thesis film, Like Strangers. As of May
2026, he will hold an MFA in Film from the City College of New York and a BA in Theatre Arts & Italian Studies from the University of Arizona.

In his thesis film, “Like Strangers,” Travis bartends at a local dive in Brooklyn where he knows everybody and everybody knows him. He’s a surly man of few words who even holds his dearest friends at arm’s length. This is how Travis protects himself. But one day, a young woman walks into his bar searching for the parent who abandoned her and it forces Travis to reconcile with his past and the many years he’s spent isolating himself from the people he loves.

Address

160 Convent Avenue/Shepard Hall/Room 286
New York, NY
10031

Telephone

+12126507235

Website

http://city-film.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when City Film - The MFA in Film Program at CCNY posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.