Film, Video, New Media & Animation at SAIC

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Film, Video, New Media, & Animation: A Leading Film Program In Chicago & Beyond

The Film, Video, New Media, & Animation department has long been central to the development of highly influential independent and experimental media practices in the field. The international character of our department and the cultural diversity of our community have produced an array of expanded approaches and driven many of our working procedures toward expansive trans-cultural practices that push boundaries while engaging in formal experimentation, technical innovation, and critical investigation. Our innovative curriculum, award-winning faculty, and world-class facilities make SAIC a leading school for animation, film, new media, and more in Chicago and beyond.

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Challenging Convention Through Innovative Programs for Film, Animation, & More

Students in the Film, Video, New Media, and Animation (FVNMA) department reach beyond conventional approaches to media, investigating new directions and pathways in areas that include:

Nonfiction and narrative film and video
Moving-image installation
Hand-drawn and digital 2D and 3D animation
Interactive art, VR, AR, and web-based projects
Media art histories

Students explore moving images in all their contemporary venues—from the cinema and performance sites to the internet and mobile devices, as well as museums, galleries, festivals, and community-based projects.

Personalized Pathways

Working with faculty advisors of their choice, students create a course of study informed by their own interests and artistic goals. Within this personalized framework, they establish a theoretical and historical context for understanding their work, the work of other artists, and work from the broader media ecosystem. Students are encouraged to explore courses both within the FVNMA department and offered by other departments to enrich their practice.

FVNMA studio courses follow disciplinary paths of cinema, video art, new media art, and 2D and 3D animation. Recent course offerings from the department include:

Visualization and Storyboarding
Motion Graphics & Visual Effects
Introduction to 2D Computer Animation
Documentary & Non-Fiction Film
Experimental Technology Lab for 3D Animation
Lighting & Cinematography
Large Scale Cinematic Production

Learn more about opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in the Film, Video, New Media, and Animation program.

International Recognition

The department has helped to produce 11 Guggenheim Fellows, as well as multiple winners at international festivals, including the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Most recently, our graduates have earned top prizes at the Berlin Film Festival, Cinema Du Reel, the Montreal Film Festival, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival, among others.

Cutting-Edge Equipment

Our extensive resources, including both legacy technology and cutting-edge equipment, are part of what makes SAIC a top school for film, animation, video, and more. Students in the FVNMA department have access to:

4K-6K digital cameras and 16 mm film equipment
Two shooting studios
A state-of-the-art sound mixing suite
Individual high-end editing suites

Learn more about available technology and equipment.

Video Data Bank, the leading resource in the United States for videos by and about contemporary artists.
The Gene Siskel Film Center, one of the country's premiere screening venues dedicated to promoting alum, student, and faculty work, as well as bringing internationally acclaimed filmmakers to Chicago and SAIC.
Conversations at the Edge, a Thursday night series at the Film Center dedicated to the FVNMA department.
The Donna and Howard Stone Gallery for film, video, and new media in the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing.

Martine Syms

Martine Syms is an artist who has earned wide recognition for a practice that combines conceptual grit, humor, and social commentary. Syms has shown extensively, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and ICA London. She is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award, a United States Artists fellowship, the Tiffany Foundation award, and the Future Fields Art Prize.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, film producer, and professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo. His art projects and feature films have won him widespread recognition and numerous festival prizes, including two prizes from the Cannes Film Festival. His acclaimed 2006 feature, Syndromes and a Century, was the first Thai film to be selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film was acclaimed in a number of international polls as one of the best films of the last decade.

Jennifer Reeder

Writer-director Jennifer Reeder constructs personal fiction films about relationships, trauma, and coping. Reeder’s innovative, award-winning narratives borrow from a range of forms, including after-school specials, amateur music videos, and magical realism. Her films have screened around the world, including at the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Venice Biennale, and the Whitney Biennial.

Opportunities & Career Paths

The department offers many courses that help prepare students for their career in the field of the moving-image arts. These include the junior seminar Professional Development for Emerging Filmmakers as well as the graduate seminar Endgame. Students pursuing new media, film, and animation gain hands-on experience showcasing their work through events such as the annual spring graduate and undergraduate exhibitions, and the Film, Video, New Media, Animation, and Sound Festival.

Outside of the classroom, students have the opportunity to connect with internationally renowned artists and film industry professionals via our award-winning series Conversations at the Edge. Hosted at the Siskel Film Center, the series features screenings, artist talks, and performances that explore contemporary media art from around the world.

Graduating students go on to work successfully as directors, editors, cinematographers, animators, game designers, writers, programmers, curators, and educators. Alumni have presented their work in international film festivals, galleries, museums, performance venues, and conferences. Learn more about alumni accomplishments.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Films Illuminate the Soul of Thailand

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (MFA 1998, HON 2011) has dedicated his career to shining a light on his native Thailand. Award-winning films like 'Blissfully Yours' and 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' have made his name internationally recognizable. Read more about his work.

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Illuminating Thailand

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (MFA 1998, HON 2011) has dedicated his career to shining a light on his native Thailand. Award-winning films like Blissfully Yours and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives have made his name internationally recognizable.

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Weerasethakul’s Work

Whether traversing the subject of love affairs, reincarnation, and generational trauma or experiencing degrees of consciousness unbeknownst to others, Weerasethakul’s films carry a distinct attraction to the tenor and terrain of Thailand, where he is based.

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A photo of SAIC alum Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Setting the Scene

All of these films are notable for their reconfiguring of the sensory environment. Rumbles, warbles, and sighs take on as much significance as flesh and blood characters. They’re all also in some way concerned with the social reality that defines Weerasethakul’s birthplace.

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An image of SAIC alumni Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Through the Lens

“I think there's some kind of obsession with your own environment,” Weerasethakul said. “There's this sense of trying to try to understand, which I was not before. So I think film allows me to kind of discover or investigate; for me, without film, without a camera, I wouldn't do it.”