University degrees: Postgraduate
Course length: three semesters of full-time studies
Course city: Thessaloniki
Welcome to the Anglophone MA Program “Film and Television Studies” of the School of Film Studies. This intensive three-semester program, taught by scholars of international standing, is designed to ensure your specialization and cultivation of advanced skills and knowledge, the advancement of academic research, as well as the production of new scientific knowledge. By the end of the program, you will have mastered the political, industrial, historical and aesthetic dimensions of film and television through a range of academic perspectives.
The Aristotle University is happy to welcome all of you and foster learning in an encouraging atmosphere while the City of Thessaloniki is waiting to reveal its rich history in every step of your way.
The School of Film of the Aristotle University was established in 2004 and is the only public higher-education film school in Greece, based in the country’s second biggest city, Thessaloniki. It offers a five-year programme of studies, covering both the 1st and 2nd cycle, leading to a degree in 8 possible directions: Screenwriting, Film directing, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound and Music of cinema, Production management, Set and Costume design and Film Theory & History.
According to its founding statute the aim of the School is “to cultivate and promote film art in the context of a wider audiovisual education, through theoretical and applied tuition and research”. In the ten years of its existence the School has already educated young filmmakers “capable of contributing to the upgrading of local production” as the succesful participation of students in international festivals testifies together with the integration of an adequate number in the professional world despite today’s dire economic conditions in the country.
Being the first and only film school of its kind in Greece the School has become a meeting place for a lot of Greek young talent in the field of film, as well as acclaimed professionals who teach as permanent staff or visiting lecturers. The School maintains a close connection with the film community so that various professionals visit the school and give masterclasses while it has had the honour of awarding honorary doctorates to emblematic figures of Greek cinema such as Michalis Kakoyannis, Pandelis Voulgaris and Costa Gavras. An important advantage of being located in Thessaloniki is the chance to follow closely the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which takes place twice a year (fiction film in Winter and documentary in Spring semester) and is considered an integral part of the studies program.
The educational philosophy combines theory and practice while lectures are primarily in Greek. Some private tutorials are arranged in English for the Erasmus students and English bibliography is also provided in many cases, especially in theory-history courses. As a lot of the courses involve mostly practical work and group projects the collaborartion of guest students with professors and students in the past did not seem to suffer heavily by the language barrier. However it must be stressed that the department offers basically a Greek-speaking studies program.
The School of Film is situated in a former tobacco warehouse in the area of Stavroupoli, 20 minutes by bus from the centre of town. The School has a 100 seat cinema and several equipped classrooms, editing studios, a sound studio, a cinematography laboratory, a library (mainly with english titles) and a videotheque.
