Vassar was one of the first liberal arts colleges to create a broad and substantive film major.

The Film Department is international in its screen studies scope, stressing a diverse canon ranging from silent films to television to online streaming content. The film major grounds our students in film history and theory and offers seminar courses in fiction and non-fiction production, as well as screenwriting for shorts or feature films. We specialize in integration: integrating film studies and filmmaking; teaching film and television; and offering interdisciplinary approaches to cinema’s wide-ranging cultural influence.

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News

Portrait of a person smiling in a spotted brown turtle neck sweater.

Bloom follows three couples and their transformative journeys with their doulas toward safe, confident childbirth. The documentary explores the vital role doulas play in bridging medical gaps, offering educated advocacy that safeguards against trauma and can be life-saving, especially for BIPOC birthing parents.

A portrait photo of Alexandra Shiva ’95 in front of the Belasco Theater in Manhattan.

In her 2015 Peabody-award-winning documentary, How to Dance in Ohio, Alexandra Shiva ’95  introduced viewers to a group of autistic teens participating a formal dance for the first time. At the end of 2023, almost nine years after the film premiered, How to Dance in Ohio, the stage production, opened on Broadway.

Red background with the letters "UF" and "VA" stacked on top of each other filling the window.

Supersymmetry directed by Denise Iris, Assistant Professor of Film, won the Experimental Merit Award for Excellence - 1st Prize - at the 2023 University Film and Video Association Annual Conference. UFVA is one of the premier academic organizations dedicated to the study of media.