MFA in Production > Degree Requirements
Program Overview | MFA Degree Requirements | MFA Admission Requirements | Masters Timeline
Our graduate production area features a team of award-winning faculty members whose expertise, and on-going research/practice spans Fiction, Alternative and Documentary filmmaking. We are dedicated to helping our students achieve their highest creative potential.
The principal goal of our program is to immerse students in a program of study that best meets their overall academic, creative and professional goals. The required courses are intended to enhance the range and depth of a student’s skills and knowledge. The program is committed to providing the opportunity for students to enhance their experience by choosing from a selection of elective courses.
A full list of Graduate Courses in the Graduate Program in Film is available here. Note that the list of courses offered varies each year.
All those earning an MFA Degree must complete 7 half courses and a Thesis, consisting of a creative work on film, video, digital and a written component.
A full list of Graduate Courses is available here. Note that the list of courses offered varies each year.
Production students must complete at least one Cinema and Media Studies 3.0 credit course. This course may include Film 6230 Contemporary Film Theory or Film 6210 Theoretical Issues.
Required courses for MFA in Production:
Film 5010 3.0 — Production
Film 5020 3.0 — Selected Topics in Production
Film 5400 3.0 — Graduate Seminar
Film 6000 — Thesis
Graduate Seminar (FILM 5400)
All first-year students in the Cinema and Media Studies, Production, and Screenwriting graduate programs are required to attend Grad Seminar. The Seminar presents opportunities for interdisciplinary discussion, gathering students for workshops on professional development (e.g., grant writing, applying to conferences and festivals), and screenings and presentations by faculty and visiting artists, filmmakers, and scholars (including events in our Norman Jewison Independents series). All second-year students will present a detailed and developed synopsis of their Thesis/MRP project at a Graduate Symposium to be held during the fall term of their second year of study.
MFA students may take up to a total of two half courses from outside the Graduate Program in Film. Students should consult the York University website for cognate departments such as Communication and Culture, Humanities, Social and Political Thought, English, Visual Arts, Anthropology, Environmental Studies, among others. Permission of the instructor and Graduate Program Director is required.
The MFA requires full-time residency of five terms or part-time residency to a maximum of twelve terms.
Directed Reading (Film 5800)
Students may design a particular course of study with a faculty member provided it is not available in the current curriculum and does not overlap significantly with a course previously taken. Students are normally allowed two 3.0 credit Directed Reading courses during their Master’s tenure in the Film Program. All directed reading courses must be approved by the Graduate Program Director.
Student-Initiated Collaborative Inquiry (Film 5700)
Similar to a Directed Reading, if a group of students wish to undertake a course of study collectively and collaboratively, this option is also available.
