Film & Television

Bachelor of Fine Arts

Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media

BFACreative Arts, Media, and StorytellingCreativity & InnovationCritical ThinkingIn-Person
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The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Television is a specialist degree. Students concentrate in one of eleven specific film and television areas and create portfolios preparing them for careers in the industry.

DePaul has been named a top film school by The Hollywood Reporter, Backstage, Variety, and MovieMaker for giving students real-world opportunities to work on Chicago’s film and television sets. Film and Television students take classes and work on their projects at DePaul’s nearly 60,000-square-foot professional production facility at Cinespace, next door to the production of high-profile series like Chicago Fire, The Bear, and The Chi. This one-of-a-kind student filmmaking experience allows students to use same facilities and equipment as professional filmmakers.

Concentrations and Degree Requirements

  • Cinematography

  • Comedy Filmmaking

  • Creative Producing

  • Directing

  • Documentary

  • Editing

  • Production

  • Production Design

  • Screenwriting

  • Showrunner

  • Sound Design

  • Visual Effects

Alumni Spotlight

 

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (BFA '19) is an independent film writer/director born of Ifugao and Visayan descent. His works explore themes of trauma, spirituality, and nature told through the cosmic lens of post-colonial spaces and Indigenous identities. His short film The Headhunter’s Daughter won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and his short Vox Humana was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025. Don is based both in La Trinidad and Chicago where he also practices as a musician, composer, and a graphic artist.

SCA Alumni
Faculty

Work side-by-side with accomplished faculty who've shaped the industry.

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DePaul CDM Faculty Anuradha Rana
Anuradha Rana
Director and Professor, School of Cinematic Arts
Anu’s work focuses on ideas of representation, identity, and varied perspectives in a global environment. Her award-winning films have been produced and directed in India, Ecuador, Japan, South Africa, and the US, and have also screened internationally.
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Chi Jang Yin
Chi Jang Yin
Professor, School of Cinematic Arts
An award-winning experimental filmmaker with expertise in media and cinema studies, Chi Jang Yin's work investigates the gaps in history that are invisible to others. Yin’s expertise in experimental documentary, VR documentaries, Cinéma Vérité, and media literacy informs a diverse body of work that is recognized internationally in galleries, museums, and film festivals.
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DePaul CDM Faculty Michael Flores
Michael Flores
Associate Professor, School of Cinematic Arts
Michael X. Flores edited Nick Broomfield’s documentary Sarah Palin: You Betcha!, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. He has since edited several films including the Netflix Original biopic The Most Hated Woman in America (2017), which premiered at SXSW, andShowtime documentary Love Means Zero (2017), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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DePaul CDM Faculty Lori Felker
Lori Felker
Associate Professor, School of Cinematic Arts
Lori is a filmmaker, teacher, programmer, and performer. Her films celebrate the ineloquent, oppositional, frustrating, chaotic qualities of human interaction. She has made work in a variety of forms including, experimental film, video installation, music video, documentary, and fiction. Her short films, feature documentary, and music videos have screened globally at festivals.
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DePaul Cinespace Studios

CDM boasts a one-of-a-kind, nearly 60,000-square-foot professional production facility and cinematic learning environment formed in alliance with Cinespace Chicago Film Studios. Students learn filmmaking craft and technique steps away from high-profile network productions filming on the Cinespace lot.

Discover Cinespace

LA Quarter

This ten-week immersion program allows students to experience the inner workings of Hollywood first hand as they live in Los Angeles, take classes on a historic studio lot, and intern at high profile companies aligning with their professional aspirations.

Study in LA

Premiere Film Festival

Our annual Premiere Film Festival showcases the best of student work in cinema and animation with awards covering all facets of filmmaking, from screenwriting to post production. Jury members include industry insiders, festival programmers, and filmmakers from around the country.

Student Film Fest

Visiting Artists Series

<div class="ck-content"><p class="feature--text" style="max-height:none;">This series brings innovative practitioners and industry leaders to the DePaul campus for film screenings, on-stage conversations, and professional panels. Students are given the opportunity to have direct and meaningful contact with established and emerging innovators and professionals in the field.</p><div class="component button-group col-12 button-group--buttonlist button-group--rich-text mt-4 mb-4"><div class="component button button--primary-button"><a class="link" href="https://sites.google.com/view/depaul-university-vas/home">VAS</a></div></div></div>

SCA-06

Project Bluelight

<div class="ck-content"><p class="feature--text" style="max-height:none;">Project Bluelight is a professional motion picture production company within the School of Cinematic Arts where students get hands-on experience in motion picture production. The goals of the program are to create high-quality independent films and to provide an intensive, practical, film production experience for DePaul students.</p><div class="component button-group col-12 button-group--buttonlist button-group--rich-text mt-4 mb-4"><div class="component button button--primary-button"><a class="link" href="https://cdm.depaul.edu/school-of-cinematic-arts/projectbluelight">Project Bluelight</a></div></div></div>

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