Interim Director’s Welcome

As the boundaries between actuality and fiction forms become more traversed, hybridized and contested, it’s vital that we continue to prepare practitioners for an evolving field during a period of great change and disruption.

Entering its tenth year, our program has become a leader in the field. Our graduates have screened award-winning works at prestigious festivals like IDFA, True/False, Hot Docs, Visions du Réel and New Directors/New Films. Our alumni are working directors, producers, cinematographers, editors and educators. Our program provides a strong foundation that marries practice with theory to develop media artist’s voices. Immersed in a small cohort environment, our diverse student body forges lifelong professional relationships.

We challenge students to create innovative works in documentary, fiction, and interactive forms. In addition, students build skills from a wide range of electives available within our department and across the university. Students emerge with a significant portfolio, including an ambitious thesis project. They also make professional connections via our many visiting filmmakers and a mentorship opportunity from our board of documentary professionals.

Our curriculum consists of ten core courses that introduce students to contemporary documentary practice across mediums, genres, and critical strategies. These courses are augmented with a set of electives taken from across the department and university that align with students’ custom educational path. Students develop a self-directed practice through interactions with internationally acclaimed artists, global internships and Northwestern’s extensive international alumni network within the film/tv industry. Our faculty reflect the interdisciplinary nature of our curriculum, with faculty active in anthropology, graphic novels, animation, installation, devised narrative, fiction, performance, experimental film, sonic arts, as well as traditional documentary techniques.

All students accepted to the program are given a full tuition waiver and a stipend for living expenses during the academic year. Students are additionally given a production grant of $5,000 to help fund the cost of their thesis project. Additional funding is available through competitive application to the Graduate School. Finally, students also work to develop their teaching skills through paid positions as teaching assistants in undergraduate courses and/or research experience as graduate assistants to faculty.

We hope you find our program as exciting and groundbreaking as we do. We’re happy to answer any questions that you might have, and we look forward to receiving your application and potentially working with you in near future future.

Sincerely

Kyle Henry
Professor/Filmmaker
Interim Director, MFA in Documentary Media