About Cinema and Media Arts

More than 50 years of nurturing creative, bold and meaningful work by new generations of filmmakers and scholars!
Theatre Students

ABOUT

CINEMA & MEDIA ARTS

We nurture creative, bold, and meaningful work by new generations of filmmakers, media artists, screenwriters and thinkers, based on a curriculum enlivened by and relevant to the continuous changes in our field.

Housed in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, the Department of Cinema and Media Arts is the most comprehensive university-based film program in the country, with a curriculum rooted in the interrelationship of theory and practice.

We offer degrees in four areas. In Cinema & Media Arts – Production, students work with state-of-the art facilities to make films and develop specialized skills in directing, cinematography, editing, sound, and production management. In Cinema & Media Arts – Screenwriting, students explore the craft of moving-image storytelling in the only degree-granting screenwriting program in Canada. In Cinema & Media Arts – Media Arts, students use new camera systems, game engines, interactive environments and social platforms to build narrative and experimental content and experiences. In Cinema & Media Arts, students examine cinematic cultures through the lens of history, visual culture, technology, industry, sexuality and race as well as aesthetics, learning how to understand cinematic practices and diverse forms of representation from around the world.

Theatre Students

Our studio courses seek to nurture films, screenplays and media works committed to richness of content, creative vitality and mastery of technique. Our studies courses offer a challenging critical and interdisciplinary perception of the world we live in through its cinema. All four areas benefit from engagement with one another, which is one of the unique strengths of our department.

Our teaching faculty is composed of a diverse group of filmmakers, media pioneers and scholars who are actively engaged in research and production, well-established in their fields. Our graduates are employed in the Canadian film, television and media industries in a wide variety of creative, technical, and executive positions, and are at work in film festivals, galleries, schools, and other film and fine arts institutions. The range of their accomplishments reflects our determination to offer our students more than just career training; our programs are intended to serve as doorways to a life of reflective and productive engagement with a world increasingly defined by moving images across diverse media. Located in Toronto, Canada’s premier destination for film and one of the most diverse cities in the world, we approach the cinema as an education in global citizenship, while we relish Canada’s cultural diversity and the way it is reflected in our students and the work they produce.

Supported by a dedicated professional staff, we take considerable care to recruit, admit and advance through our programs highly motivated students who want an extraordinary university education.

OUR CREATIVE SPACES

Film Equipment Room

HIGHLIGHTS

A Brief History

1969
Canada’s first Department of Cinema and Media Arts opens its doors on York University’s Keele campus. It’s founding Chair is filmmaker, scholar and educator James A. Beveridge
1973
The Department’s first BA in Film graduates
1976
the Department’s first BFA in Film graduates
1979
Canada’s first Graduate Program in Film launches
1983
The first MFA in Film graduates
1990
The Centre for Film & Theatre opens, which is the Department’s current home
2003
Direct intake to BA in Cinema & Media Studies begins
2007
PhD Program in Cinema & Media Studies accepts its first students
2009
Designated BFA in Screenwriting is established, creating the first and only undergraduate screenwriting program in Canada
2017
the BFA in Media Arts is launched
2019
The Department celebrates half a century of filmmaking at York University

FACULTY

People of Cinema & Media Arts

Associate Professor

Tereza Barta

Associate Professor

Barbara Evans

Professor Emeritus

Seth Feldman

Professor

Caitlin Fisher

Professor Emeritus

Scott Forsyth

Associate Professor

Laurence Green

Associate Professor

John Greyson

Associate Professor

Sharon Hayashi

Professor Emeritus

Philip Hoffman

Professor

Ali Kazimi

Professor

Brenda Longfellow

Professor

Janine Marchessault

Associate Professor

John McCullough

Professor Emerita

Marie Rickard

Associate Professor

Temenuga Trifonova

Professor Emerita

Colleen Wagner

Professor Emerita

Renate H. Wickens

Associate Professor

Howard Wiseman

Professor Emerita

Suzie Young

Associate Professor

Michael Zryd

Professor Emeritus

Evan W. Cameron

Professor Emeritus

Jim Fisher

Professor Emeritus

Antonin Lhotsky

Contract Faculty

Maureen Dorey

Sessional Assistant Professor

Gillian Helfield

Contract Faculty

Carol McBride

Contract Faculty

Steve Munro

Contract Faculty

Rebecca Schechter

Associate Professor

Kenneth Rogers

Associate Professor

Manfred Becker

Associate Professor

Mary Bunch

Assistant Professor

Taien Ng-Chan

Associate Professor

Ingrid Veninger

Contract Faculty

Tony Nardi

Associate Professor

Patricio Dávila

Contract Faculty

Chris Romeike

Contract Faculty

Matthew Johnson

Contract Faculty

Vladimir Paskaljevic

Contract Faculty

William Robertson

Contract Faculty

Francisca Duran

Contract Faculty

Matthew Miller

Contract Faculty

Michelle Szemberg

Contract Faculty

Bill Robertson

Assistant Professor

Moussa Djigo

Contract Faculty

Morgan Fics

Assistant Professor

Hector Centeno Garcia

Assistant Professor

Sue Johnson

Assistant Professor

Fabio Montanari

Contract Limit Appointment

Matthew I Thompson

Contract Faculty

Erik Anderson

Contract Faculty

Bazir Adrienne

Contract Faculty

Meagan Byrne

Contract Faculty

Wendy Donnan

Contract Faculty

Shant Joshi

Contract Faculty

Caroline Klimek

Contract Faculty

Jenn McGouran

Contract Faculty

JP Marchant

Contract Faculty

Jim Munroe

Contract Faculty

Steve Sanguedolce

Contract Faculty

Brigitte Sachse

Contract Faculty

Jonathan Silveira

Contract Faculty

Michael Trommer

Contract Faculty

Thomas Wallner

Contract Faculty

Karen Walton

CINEMA & MEDIA ARTS AT YORK STUDENTS

Getting Involved

Film Students Association

Film Students Association (FSA): The FSA is a student-run association that encourages and coordinates services and activities to enhance the University experience for students in the Department of Cinema & Media Arts.

Creative Arts Student Association

Creative Arts Student Association: Representing students in all areas of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, the Creative Arts Student Association (CASA) sponsors events throughout the year, including coffee houses in the Fireside Lounge every Wednesday with free coffee and themed snacks.