Film School Consortium

Ryerson University Film Program

Ryerson University’s Film Program, one of the oldest and most prestigious motion picture production degree programs in North America, enjoys a worldwide reputation for excellence, artistic integrity and real-world relevance. Concentrating in the areas of independent, experimental and commercial filmmaking, with an emphasis on documentary and fiction production, the school educates and trains students as filmmakers who are, in fact, artist practitioners. After several foundation years, the program encourages streaming in a wide array of professional careers – producer, cinematographer, art director, director, screenwriter, sound designer/recordist, independent documentary filmmaker, to name a few.

The program forms part of Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts (Film-Photography-New Media), Canada’s leader in innovative, career-oriented education emphasizing a balance between the academic and professional, the theoretical and the practical. Students benefit from the interdisciplinary course offerings of the School of Image Arts as well as its policy of encouraging hands-on creative practice coupled with informed independent critical and creative thinking. In addition to an undergraduate degree program in film, the School of Image Arts also offers a graduate program in Documentary Media, and another in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management which includes study in film preservation.

With a mission to serve societal need, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community, Ryerson offers close to 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university is home to 28,000 students, including 2,000 master’s and PhD students, nearly 2,700 tenured and tenure-track faculty and staff, and more than 130,000 alumni worldwide. This academic setting, along with the school’s downtown Toronto location, offers film students unique opportunities to be involved with a vast array of cultural, artistic, social and media related organizations, institutions and commercial production enterprises, not the least is the new world class Ryerson Gallery and Study Centre situated in the heart Image Arts building itself.

Entrance into the School of Image Arts film option is highly competitive - the program is demanding and extremely fast paced. However, the result is an endless list of graduates who excel in their professions and their lives. Our graduates include such people as Bruce McDonald (iconic Canadian director: Tracey Fragments, Trigger, Pontypool, Degrassi: The Next Generation), Jeremy Podeswa (Writer/Director: The Five Senses, Six Feet Under, The Tudors) Frieder Hochheim (Academy Award Winning inventor of Kinoflo lighting system), Daniel Louis (Academy Award winning producer “Barbarian Invasions”, Jeffrey Perkins(Academy Award Winning Sound Mixer “Dances With Wolves”), Alan Goluboff (President of the Canadian Directors Guild), Michael Kennedy (Writer/Director – Little Mosque on the Prairie), Joan Hutton (President of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers), and Peter Mettler (Cinematographer - Manufactured Landscapes, Gambling Gods and LSD) to name a few from hundreds.

Often it does not take long for the School’s graduates to begin making their marks. Some notable successes from younger graduates include showcasing of their films in festivals and at events such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Canada's Top Ten Shorts, TIFF's Student Film Showcase, Sprockets, the EnRoute Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, the Slamdance Film Festival, and many more. Among the young filmmakers showcased who are ones to watch are Kazik Radwanski, Dan Montgomery, Brandon Cronenberg, Lyndon Casey, James Vandewater, Kevin Krikst and Pat Mills.

If the reputation of an educational institution is judged by the success of its graduates, this is a school that comes very highly recommended.

Contact:

James Warrack
c/o School of Image Arts
Ryerson University
350 Victoria Street 
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 2K3

By Phone/Fax:
Tel 416 979-5000 ext 2237
Fax 416 979-5139

By E-Mail:  jwarrack@ryerson.ca