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Program Details
Turn your passion for movies into an exciting career. Learn critical and historical approaches to film and emerging media from experts in the field. Develop specialized knowledge about film as an art and an industry by studying diverse genres, styles, and cultural contexts in globally-focused courses
Areas of study include films genres; film theory; early film history; the films of Africa, Asia, Scandinavia, Europe, and North America; Indigenous filmmaking; documentary films; film technology; film festival curation; screenwriting; sound studies; queer and transgender cinema; video games; and digital media culture. You will also examine broader questions about audiovisual culture and hone your research and communication skills.
Capital Advantage
Ottawa’s lively film and media scene includes year-round film festivals, repertory cinemas, and artist-run film and video production centres. Our students can also access the resources available at National Capital Region institutions such as Library and Archives Canada, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Art Gallery, and the Museum of History.
Work Experience
Students can apply for the practicum program in which they can get real-world experience working in film festival programming, exhibition or production work at institutions such as the Canadian Film Institute, the Ottawa International Animation Festival, , and the Digital Arts Resource Centre.
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Career Outcomes
Explore your passions, refine new skills and discover the career that’s right for you.
The Film Studies program can lead you to a variety of careers in fields such as film and multimedia production, museums and archival work, entertainment law and policy,, media education , journalism, arts, and film festivals.
Sample Courses
FILM 1120 - Seminar in Film Studies
This course introduces students to the main terms and concepts of Film Studies, considering film as an art and as entertainment, analysing the aesthetics of film form, and studying the cinema as a social practice. We will watch films from the entire history of the cinema, since its invention in about 1895, considering examples of film styles and genres from around the world, while addressing the central critical issues in the study of the cinema.
FILM 2101 - The Film Industry
The organization of the production, distribution and exhibition practices of various film industries. May include an examination of the relationship between a national film industry and its television industry.
Visit the Undergraduate Calendar to view a comprehensive list of course offerings for this program and discover the exciting things Carleton students are learning in the classroom!
My personal experience with Ottawa’s One World Film Festival gave me the opportunity to work for the festival and connect with filmmakers, activists and several wonderful volunteers who made my time there something I will not soon forget. Beyond the academic merits of the program, Carleton Film Studies is warm and welcoming, hidden away on the edge of campus, offering a quiet and cozy environment. While I am eager to graduate, I will certainly miss coming to the place that has, over the recent years, become my second home.
