Welcome Prospective Students

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Start your journey to becoming a CINE student by applying to the University

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CU-Boulder’s Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts is the only destination at CU for an immersive, thorough, and expansive education in the areas of Motion Picture and Television narrative, animation, experimental, and documentary filmmaking.

Our department caters to movie and narrative TV lovers and makers, as well as the artistically inclined experimenter—in the tradition of Stan Brakhage and Phil Solomon—seeking to discover the unlimited possibilities of the Moving Image Arts on film, animation, and digital media. The immersive curricula for our BA (studio and critical studies), and BFA (cinema arts) tracks highlights the importance of understanding cinema (its artistic and commercial sides) within the contexts of film history, aesthetics, national and international movements and genres, and the works of some of cinema’s most groundbreaking and influential filmmakers: from Alfred Hitchcock to Agnès Varda, from Stanley Kubrick to Jane Campion, from Alice Guy-Blaché to Akira Kurosawa, from Oscar Micheaux to Ousmane Sembène.

CU CINE is the place to be for the cinephile and explorer of movies, television, and visual arts, with the artistic edge and the critical thinking advantage of a liberal arts education within the flagship College of Arts & Sciences.

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Degree Information

The Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts offers degrees in filmmaking (BFA) as well as a critical studies (BA); the BFA is focused on the art of independent filmmaking, and the BA emphasizes the critical study of film as an art form. The Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts offers an interdisciplinary MFA degree with the Department of Art and Art History. The Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts hopes to begin a critical studies MA track within the next few years. International film is an important component of our critical studies and we offer a wide range of courses in this area.

Cinema Studies Tours

Interested in visiting the Department of Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts? We offer in person tours during our regular office hours, Monday - Friday 9-5. For more information and to schedule a tour, email us at filmoffice@colorado.edu.

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Academic Questions?

To see more about specific degree options, class offerings, and other academic questions,

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Prospective Student FAQ

Do I have to submit a portoflio for the BA?

No, you do not need to submit a portfolio to become a CINE major. Prospective Students should apply to the College of Arts and Sciences and then declare the major as Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts.

You can find more information on applying to the College of Arts and Sciences here.

When filling out the Common App for CU Boulder, choose Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts for your major. This will automatically enroll you as a CINE major. You will then need to meet with an advisor to declare your emphasis track, in either Production or Critical Studies.

If you did not do that and are a First Year student in the College of Arts & Sciences, you can declare a CINE major or minor with your First Year Advisor at any time. 

All other students who are interested in declaring a CINE major or minor need to meet with a CINE advisor.  Declaration meetings are scheduled through .