Discover the artist you want to be and develop the skills to achieve your vision. Shoot and edit your own films on state-of-the-art equipment while being a part of a collaborative community of filmmakers in NYC.
A Globally Recognized Film Program with High-End Tech in an Art School Environment
Andrew Guaman directing his Film+Fashion class project, ‘Loteria’
Immerse yourself in your creative practice from the first semester—making 12–20 short films by the time you have graduated—using Pratt’s high-end equipment, cinema cameras, and facilities. You are part of a community of artists encouraged to take creative risks and push the boundaries of conventional filmmaking. As a member of CILECT (The International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools), our program is validated against the highest global standards.
Learn All Aspects of Filmmaking
Explore narrative, documentary, experimental filmmaking, and video art while also learning cinematography, sound design, screenwriting, and all other aspects of filmmaking. Rare among film programs, this holistic approach makes our graduates versatile in the workplace—able to engage effectively with everyone on a film set.
“People will often tell us we have to choose one thing and stick to it. But I think our generation understands that you have to be flexible and do a bit of everything.”
The program culminates with a guided but self-defined yearlong senior thesis project. Direct and edit your most ambitious short film to be presented as part of our Senior Showcase in our state-of-the-art Katharine L. McKenna Screening Room and at the prestigious BAM Rose Cinemas.
Join a Supportive Community with Small Class Sizes
Be part of a warm, supportive community that extends beyond graduation. Our faculty of filmmakers and artists facilitate your learning in intimate classes of 12–15 students. Students work collaboratively, contributing to the sense of camaraderie in each cohort.
A Campus Environment in NYC
You’ll have easy access to the museums, cinemas, and excitement of New York City, while enjoying the tranquility of our beautiful Brooklyn campus and the community of our dedicated Film/Video Building.
Mentorship from Our Dedicated Faculty
Our faculty members are active filmmakers and artists representing myriad professional possibilities and creative directions you may take in your work. They are award-winning directors, professional editors, sound mixers, colorists, experimental filmmakers, animators, and video artists—as well as dedicated mentors to our students and alumni.
“If it were not for [Pratt] mentors believing in me, I wouldn’t have my dream career of directing TV, films, and commercials and owning my production company.”
Take advantage of Pratt’s extensive network to find internships in NYC. We will coach you through the research and application process in your area of interest (production, post-production, color correction, live television, or distribution). Our students have been placed in internships in a wide range of contexts including Saturday Night Live, Late Night, A24, MoMA, Technicolor, Kino Lorber, and MTV.
In addition to a spring break program in Cuba, Film/Video students can study abroad at partner institutions in the spring semester of their junior year in cities such as London, Lisbon, Paris, and Berlin.
Our graduates are highly sought after and well-known in the film industry for being self-sufficient, respectful, resourceful, and hardworking. They are directing television, feature films, commercials, and music videos. They are professional editors, colorists, cinematographers, and sound recordists. They are award-winning writers, producers, and educators.
Highlights
Liz Hannah (BFA ‘07) Golden Globe Nominated Screenwriter of The Post (directed by Steven Spielberg), showrunner of ‘The Girl From Plainville’ and a writer on ‘The Dropout’
April Maxey (BFA ‘12) was named one of Sundance’s “Women to Watch 2023”. Winner of Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding US Narrative Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival 2022
Park Min-woo (BFA ‘17) is the director of photography on the Korean dramatic TV series Oasis (2023)
Yessenia Sanchez’s (BFA ‘21) thesis film Double Cultura is streaming on HBOMax as part of the Latino Short Film Competition in 2023/24
Yi Xiong, ‘22, A Tortoises Year of Fate an official selection in the Locarno Film Festival
Glenn Ficarra (BFA ‘91) & John Requa (BFA ‘91) are showrunners for the Paramount+ spy thriller Rabbit Hole (2023). They wrote Bad Santa and wrote and directed Crazy, Stupid, Love
Luiza Gonçalves (BFA ‘19) won best film in competition for A BANANA TREE IS NO COINCIDENCE Pesaro Festival of New Cinema in Italy, 2021
Joel Haver (BFA ‘18) is a YouTube phenomenon whose weekly animations and comedic skits regularly get hundreds of thousands if not millions of views
Owen Kline’s first feature Funny Pages (2022) was produced by A24 and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
Mika Altskan (BFA ‘15) is a cinematographer whose commercial work includes a Nike ad with singer Billie Eilish; his narrative work includes Wild Nights with Emily (2018) which premiered at SXSW
Mackie Mallison’s (BFA ‘22) short film It Smelled like Springtime (2022) premiered at the New York Film Festival
Myrsini Aristidou’s (BFA ‘13) short films have screened at the Toronto, Venice and Sundance film festivals; and Semele (2015) won a Special Jury Prize at the Berlinale
Jungah Kim (BFA ‘86) is a producer and was the first female president of CJ Entertainment in South Korea
Career Support for Life
Students and alumni can schedule one-on-one appointments with career strategists in Pratt’s Center for Career and Professional Development. A career strategist can work with you to develop your job/internship search strategies and life and business plans, as well as review résumés, cover letters, websites, and other marketing materials.
The program also offers faculty-led career coaching, a Professional Practices class, dedicated internship support, and an alumni mentorship program that pairs recent graduates with working professionals in the field.
Ready for More?
HERE’S HOW TO APPLY
PORTFOLIO HELP
OUR CAMPUS & BEYOND
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
Building your portfolio can be daunting. We’ll answer your questions and help you feel confident about the portfolio you submit with your application. Start building your portfolio, now.
You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.
The Film/Video program at Pratt Institute provides a foundation in nonfiction, fiction, experimental, and other time-based media practices. Our rigorous, project-based curriculum is centered around the creation of a sequence of films and videos that grow in complexity each semester, culminating in a year-long thesis project.
Each student is offered ample opportunity to grow and advance their conceptual, technical, and professional skills. They are encouraged to take creative risks, and to push the boundaries of conventional forms. They are introduced to a diverse canon of creators and works, and are asked to investigate complex histories and contexts as they strive to become reflexive and conscientious artists.
We aim to foster a supportive and collaborative creative community in which differences are respected and celebrated. We value the personal perspectives that each student brings to the classroom, and our goal is to elevate that unique voice to the forefront of their artistic vision.
The Pratt Film/Video Department strives to recognize, accept, and celebrate differences (such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and other individual characteristics), while creating a safe, welcoming, and respectful environment that champions the creative and academic empowerment of all individuals. We condemn oppression in any form and recognize, in particular, the systemic prejudice and discrimination at play in the media industry. With this awareness, we ask students and faculty to join us in actively interrupting the paradigms of power and privilege that might play out subtly or not so subtly in the classroom and on set. As such, we intend to foster a creative and collaborative community in which all students enjoy the comfort that comes from being seen, valued, respected and included as uniquely talented individuals. It is our hope that students will emulate this model and have a positive impact in the field as they move into their roles as industry professionals.
In the first semester film majors start making work right away in Film Fundamentals and Production Studio, two rigorous and comprehensive courses, which provide essential foundational training. Students then delve into various modes of filmmaking in Fiction I, Nonfiction I, and Experimental Studio I. In addition to writing, analysis, and theory classes, technical skills are put to practice in Postproduction Studio, Cinematography + Lighting Design, and Sound Design. Students develop advanced skills in Fiction II and their choice of Nonfiction II or Experimental Studio II. In the junior year, the curriculum opens up to electives giving students a chance to try new things and gain more experience in their areas of interest. The culmination of the program is a guided but self-defined senior thesis project, publicly screened in our state of the art screening room and at BAM Rose Cinemas.
Students learn in an intimate workshop setting through screenings, readings, technical demonstrations, production exercises, class critiques, and visiting professionals, as well as through internship programs in the many film, video, and postproduction studios throughout the city.
Upon graduation, students will have produced their senior project as well as compiled a sample reel of personal work, which can be part of a graduate school application, be submitted to galleries and festivals, or serve as a demonstration of students’ skills for entry into the professional landscape.
Upon graduation from the BFA in Film, the student is expected to be competent in the following areas:
Student is able to effectively plan, oversee, and complete all phases of the filmmaking process (pre- production, production and post- production).
Student is able to clearly conceptualize a cinematic project within a historical, theoretical or cultural context.
Student is able to demonstrate technical and aesthetic proficiency in service to the cinematic project.
Student is able to communicate creative, aesthetic and conceptual ideas.
Film/Video Professor Jim Finn will be teaching a production course called Cities and the Dead during the January intersession term in Pratt Rome. The course will be based on the portrayal of death in the arts through walking tours, film screenings, museum visits and field trips to Florence and the outskirts of Rome. Themes include Memento Mori — Latin for Remember your Death— the ancient practice of focusing on a meaningful life by reflecting on death; the Italian invention of tarot cards; and visits to locations of stylized Giallo horror films. Students will create projects based on these themes. @prattfilm_video @soartpratt
INFO SESSION: Cities and the Dead informational meeting
Tue Apr 7, 2026 1:15pm – 2pm (EDT)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://pratt.zoom.us/j/99802924729
More info on Terradotta: https://pratt-sa.terradotta.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular&id=50616
Professor Matías Piñeiro, and the students in Spring '26's Filmmaker Focus class, welcome filmmaker Nicolás Pereda for a screening followed by a Q&A.
Space will be limited so RSVP at the link in bio for this special visitor.
LINK IN BIO
DATE: Monday, April 13th (Eastern Time - New York), from 7:00 PM
DOORS OPEN: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Katharine L. McKenna Screening Room.
Pratt Institute, F/V Building
@soartpratt @prattfilm_video
F/V students - please join us for a Town Hall about Generative AI, on Thursday March 26th, at 6:30 pm.
The faculty would like to hear from students with different perspectives about the use of Generative AI in all aspects of the filmmaking process.
Open to all F/V students - bring your thoughts, concerns, and ideas!
@prattfilm_video
Green Film School Alliance @prattfilm_video sustainabilty information, check lists, and guidelines for best practices on set - located at link in bio!
#sustainability #greenfilmmaking @greenfilmschoolalliance
We want to hear from you! Pratt F/V students, and alums, please share your thoughts and ideas, and general feedback, on the form linked in bio @prattfilm_video !
Illustration by Pari Santini
Pratt Film/Video is thrilled to congratulate 2013 Alum Myrsini Aristidou on her recent win at Sundance! Her film "Hold Onto Me" achieved recognition receiving the Audience Award for World Cinema Dramatic.
The Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Presented by United Airlines was awarded to HOLD ONTO ME (Κράτα Με) / Cyprus, Denmark, Greece (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Myrsini Aristidou, Producer: Monica Nicolaidou) — 11-year-old Iris learns her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father’s funeral. Determined to know him, Iris tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard, where he’s been keeping to himself. What begins as a stubborn attempt to reconnect slowly unfolds into a fragile bond. Cast: Christos Passalis, Maria Petrova. World Premiere. Available online for public.
#prattinstitute @prattalumni @prattfilm_video @prattinstitute @soartpratt @myrsiniaristidou @onesixonefilms @holdontome_film
We are so excited to share the news that a film produced by Prof. Justice Whitaker is a nominee for outstanding short live action film in the NAACP Image Awards!
Vote for the film at https://vote.naacpimageawards.net/ by scrolling down to the motion picture category and selecting the LIVE ACTION SHORT award and voting Food For The Soul then clicking SUBMIT.
#prattfaculty @prattfilm_video @justice512k @foodforthesoulfilm @soartpratt
Congratulations to '21 F/V Grad Yessenia Sanchez!
She joins the cohort of 2026 Film Independent Project Involve Editing Fellows - way to go!
#prattinstitute
@yessenia.sanchez21 @soartpratt @prattfilm_video @filmindependent
