harvard film phd

About the Film Study Center

The Film Study Center is Harvard’s one center devoted to supporting artistic practice and creative work in film, video, and sound. It was founded in 1957 for the purpose of supporting non-fiction work that records and interprets the world through images and sounds.

We support practices , from the ethnographic to the experimental, that explore and expand the expressive potential of audiovisual media, especially through nonfiction. We grant annual fellowships to graduate students, faculty, and staff drawn from departments across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the University as a whole. We also collaborate with the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study to provide fellowships in film, sound, and moving image installation for makers from around the world and with the LEF Foundation to award an annual fellowship to a Boston-area filmmaker. The FSC also regularly invites outstanding visiting filmmakers to Harvard to share their work with the University community.

Works that have been produced over the years with the Film Study Center’s assistance include John Marshall’s The Hunters (1957), Robert Gardner’s Dead Birds (1963) and Forest of Bliss (1985), Jan Lenica’s Landscape (1974), Robb Moss’ The Same River Twice (2003), Ross McElwee’s Six O’Clock News (1997) and Bright Leaves (2003), Richard P Rogers’ DoHistory.org (2000), Peter Galison and Robb Moss’ Secrecy (2008), Gina Kim’s Never Forever (2007), Sharon Lockhart’s Lunch Break (2008) and Exit (2008), Amie Siegel’s DDR/DDR (2008), Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s Sweetgrass (2009), Verena Paravel and Lucien Casting-Taylor’s Leviathan (2012), Libbie Dina Cohn and John Paul Sniadecki’s People’s Park (2012), Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s Manakamana (2013), Valerie Massadian’s Milla (2017), Eloy Enciso’s Endless Night (2019), Ben Rivers and Anocha Suwichakornpong’s Krabi, 2562 (2019), Mati Diop’s Atlantics (2019), and Ernst Karel and Veronika Kusumaryati’s Expedition Content (2020).

Established initially as a visual arm of Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology , in 1964 the Film Study Center relocated to the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts . In 1995, it moved to Sever Hall in Harvard Yard, where it remains an independent center serving students and faculty across FAS. The Film Study Center is also the administrative home for the Critical Media Practice (CMP) secondary field for PhD students at Harvard who wish to integrate media creation into their academic work.  

Work at the Film Study Center has been made possible by its own endowment, the generosity of its benefactors, and grants that have been obtained for its projects from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacArthur Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fidelity Charitable Foundation, the McMillan-Stewart Foundation, the Norman Foundation, and the Billy Rose Foundation, among others.

Robert Gardner was Founding Director of the Film Study Center and served as its Director from 1957 to 1997. Richard P. Rogers served as Director from 1998 to 2001. Lucien Castaing-Taylor served as Associate Director from 2002 to 2008, and as Director from 2008 to 2020. Ross McElwee served as Interim Director in 2009-10. Peter Galison served as Co-Director with Lucien Casting-Taylor from 2010 to 2019. Currently, Joana Pimenta is Interim Director and Julie Mallozzi is Administrative Director.

The FSC logo was designed circa 1957 by Hungarian-born artist, designer, educator, and art theorist György Kepes. Courtesy of the Kepes estate.

General Inquiries

[email protected]

Director  Joana Pimenta [email protected]

Administrative Director Julie Mallozzi [email protected] 617 496 2714

Program Coordinator Cozette Russell [email protected] 617 495 9704

Film and Video Technician Stefan Grabowski [email protected] 617 495 0488

Advisory Committee

Lucien Castaing-Taylor John Cowles Professor of Art and Anthropology; Director, Sensory Ethnography Lab

Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou Film programmer, Curator, and Researcher

Haden Guest Director, Harvard Film Archive

David Joselit Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies; Chair, Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies

Aily Tanaka Nash Programmer, New York Film Festival; Visiting Lecturer on Art, Film, and Visual Studies

Véréna Paravel Filmmaker; Visiting Professor on Art, Film, and Visual Studies

The Film Study Center Harvard University 24 Quincy St. Cambridge, MA 02138

The FSC hosts regular visiting filmmakers and artists. McMillan-Stewart Fellow Alain Gomis discusses his films at the Harvard Film Archive.  Photo: Michael Hutcherson

Our monthly work-in-progress critiques are a chance for fellows to get constructive feedback on their films. FSC fellow Zach Jama discussing his film “Xasuuqii means Massacre.”

FSC fellows and CMP students have access to a range of film and video equipment including cameras, microphones, and film and video editing systems. Salmaan Mirza filming his FSC project “Mahkeme.”

General Inquiries [email protected]

Aily Tanaka Nash Programmer, New York Film Festival; Visiting Professor on Art, Film, and Visual Studies

The Film Study Center Harvard University 24 Quincy St. Cambridge MA 02138

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Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies  

Film and Visual Studies

• David Joselit

Joselit began his career as a curator at The ICA in Boston from 1983-1989. After receiving his PhD...

• Lucien Castaing-Taylor
• Judith Belzer

• Giuliana Bruno

Professor Bruno is internationally known for her research on the intersections of the visual arts, architecture, film, and media.... Read more about Giuliana Bruno

Dan Byers is a curator of contemporary art with a current focus on commissioning new work with living artists. In addition to leading the ...

Conley studies relations of space and writing in literature, cartography, and cinema. His work moves to and from early modern France and issues in theory and interpretation in visual media.... Read more about Tom Conley

• Laura Frahm

Frahm's work explores film and media through the lens of architecture, design, spatial theory, ecological thought, and process philosophy.... Read more about Laura Frahm

• Haden Guest

Haden Guest is Director of the Harvard Film Archive where he curates the HFA cinematheque and its motion picture, manuscript and photographic collections.... Read more about Haden Guest

• Carrie Lambert-Beatty

Carrie Lambert-Beatty is a contemporary art historian. She is the author of the award-winning book Being Watched: Yvonne Rainer and the 1960s (MIT Press, 2008) and the essay "Make Believe: Parafiction and Plausibility," among other writings.... Read more about Carrie Lambert-Beatty

As a scholar of literary, film, and cultural studies, Jie Li’s...

John Stilgoe

A 2015-16 Harvard William Channing Cabot Fellow and most recently author of Old Fields: Photography, Glamour, and Fantasy Landscape (UVA Press, 2014) and What Is Landscape? (MIT Press,  2016), Stilgoe has written many books,... Read more about John Stilgoe

Sam Witherow

• Alexander Zahlten

Alexander Zahlten's research interests center on film and audiovisual culture in East Asia, with a focus on Japan. His work explores...

People in AFVS

Affiliate faculty, visiting faculty, graduate students, faculty by curricular area.

• Environmental Studies (2)
• Film and Visual Studies (13)
• Film/Video and Animation (9)
• Studio Art and Photography (6)

List of People in AFVS

• Katarina Burin
• Alfred Guzzetti
• Sharon Harper
• Sky Hopinka
• Annette Lemieux
• Ruth Lingford
• Julie Mallozzi
• Ross McElwee
• Karthik Pandian
• Joana Pimenta
• Stephen Prina
• Vincent Brown
• Tania Bruguera
• Peter Gallison
• Alex Rehding
• Justin Weir
• chukwumaa .
• Brenda L Croft
• Kim Forero-Arnias
• Maria Gamboa
• Alain Gomis
• Patrice Aphrodite Helmar
• Peter Kuper
• Aily Tanaka Nash
• Verena Paravel
• Denise Oberdan
• Emily Amendola
• Fredy Barrera
• Tonny Barua
• Yaneris Briggs
• Jennifer DeSutter
• Jamieson Edson
• Will Gianetta
• Mohammad Islam
• Kate Kelley
• Holly Kelly
• Lara Kheireddine
• John Koczera
• Patrick Marshall
• John Merrill
• Matt Murphy
• Aaron Peirano Garrison
• Carolyn Bailey
• Santiago Bonilla
• Yongyu Chen
• Olivia Crough
• Sophie Gilmore
• John Hulsey
• Jonathan Knapp
• Keisha Knight
• Kendra McLaughlin
• Mahan Moalemi
• Kathryn Abarbanel
• Chucho Ocampo Aguilar
• Elaine Chen
• Mattlyn Cordova
• Claude Eshun
• Rina Goldfield
• Navidreza Haghighi Mood
• Michael Kling

The Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies (AFVS) cultivates skills in both the practice and the critical study of the visual arts. Its components include photography, filmmaking, animation, video art, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, as well as film and visual studies, critical theory, and the study of the built environment. Undergraduates may pursue a Concentration with Tracks and Secondary Fields in Film/Video Production, Film and Visual Studies, and Studio Arts.

Note that most of the courses offered in AFVS are limited to 10 or 12 students because many are “making” courses, meaning students create artworks or films. The optimal way to conduct these courses is in small groups. Some seminars are also limited-enrollment. Students should visit The AFVS web site's courses page as well as each course’s Canvas site to learn about course admission procedures.  

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Matt Saunders Manager of Academic Programs: Paula Soares

Gateway Courses

Spring 2024.

AFVS 12: Drawing 1: Drawing as a Visual Language Katarina Burin 

A studio course to build the skills of drawing incrementally and expand students’ visual vocabulary. Drawings will be made from life, photographs and invention. Emphasis will be placed on enhancing our observational sensibilities through life drawing and the figure, focusing on all aspects of technical development, particularly the importance of line. The aim of this course is to expand drawing skills with intention and purpose.

AFVS 40H: Introduction to Still Photography Patrice Helmar

This course serves as an introduction to photography. We will concentrate on the contemporary and historic nature of the medium through lectures, discussions, and visiting artists. Tutorials and workshops using programs from the Adobe suite will cover digital workflow and proper camera operation. These sessions will include image capture, file management, image processing, and digital printing. Weekly assignments will include photographic exercises, readings, and written responses. Structure of the course will alternate between technical instruction, lab days, and critique. The culminating assignment will be a final series of photographs akin to a well honed collection of songs.

AFVS 65: Photographic/Cinematic—Introduction to Lens-Based Practices Joana Pimenta

Introduction to lens-based practices. We will focus on the photographic principles of cinematography for filmmakers (camera, lenses, scale of shots, exposure, composition, lighting, among others), and work with a series of photography-based exercises for moving image, using both still and moving image cameras, and working across film and video. This is a foundations course for work in film/video, with a specific focus on cinematography, where students will learn through practice photographic fundamentals that will be central to their moving image work.

FYSEMR 63W: Vegetal Humanities—Paying Attention to Plants in Contemporary Art Carrie Lambert-Beatty

This class invites you to practice a new kind of plant-consciousness. Our guides will be contemporary artists and thinkers who are encouraging new relationships between human and vegetal life, or recalling very old ones. Suddenly, we have plant protagonists, gardens in galleries, and botany-based forms of philosophy, architecture, music and more. Following the lead of these culture-makers and their work, we will draw on the new science of plant communication and learning in this class; uncover plant-based histories and renew ancient understandings of human-plant relations. But plants themselves will also be primary sources, as each student follows a sequence of exercises to deepen understanding of a plant "interviewee"—one they'll grow at home from an unidentified seed. At the same time, we will ask critical questions: with climate crisis upon us, in a time of social inequity, poisonous politics, and mass dislocations, why this attraction to plants? Is the vegetal turn a diversion from tough human problems? Or is there reason to think a cultural change could, even now, change the fate of nature?

GENED 1156: Modern Art and Modernity  Maria Gough, David Joselit, and Ewa Lajer-Burcharth

What role do artistic practices play in the formation of modern culture and society, and how does art foster critical reflection and debate?How has modernity—understood as a socio-economic reality, technological condition, cultural discourse, and set of aesthetic practices—redefined the purpose and function of art over the past three hundred years or so?  What role has modern art played in the constitution of the modern experience of subjectivity?  Beginning in the early 18thC and concluding in the early 21stC, the course traces art’s transformation from a tool of power elites into an instrument also of broad public instruction and civic debate on controversial topics.  By learning about the diversity of ways in which modern artists have contributed to the production and critique of cultural and social life you will acquire the skills to make the most of your experience of art exhibitions and museums.  This knowledge of the long history of modern art will help you better navigate a cultural present characterized by the ever-greater importance in everyday life of the production and consumption of images. It will also enable you to gain a deeper awareness of how art participates in critical dissent and aesthetic speculation in today's troubled world.  

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Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

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A student enrolled in a PhD program in the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences may achieve formal recognition for completing a secondary field in film and visual studies. The following requirements must be met to complete this secondary field.

• Completion of four graduate-level courses in film and visual studies with honors grades of B+ or above.
• AFVS 272: Film and Visual Studies
• Three other courses must be selected from among graduate courses taught by faculty of the Graduate Committee on Film and Visual Studies. The director of graduate studies will make a list of approved graduate seminars available at the beginning of each academic year.

Examinations

Successful completion of an examination or alternative means of demonstrating mastery in the field of film and visual studies is also required. The particular form of examination or alternative means of demonstrating mastery will be agreed upon by the DGS in film and visual studies and the DGS in the student’s home PhD department. This demonstration of mastery might be part of a departmental general or field examination, or it might be combined with departmental requirements in some other way. One or more members of the Graduate Committee on Film and Visual Studies will conduct and adjudicate the portion of the preliminary examination devoted to film and visual studies, and the results will be reported to both DGSs.

Students interested in declaring a secondary field in film and visual studies should consult with the FVS DGS as early as possible. At this time, a plan of study should be prepared and submitted to the DGS, to be approved by the Committee on Film and Visual Studies as well as the student’s home department.

For further information contact [email protected] .

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Film Theory, Visual Thinking (at AFVS)

How do moving images transform the way we think? Introduction to film theory aimed at interpreting the visual world, and developing skills to analyze films and media images. Survey of classical and contemporary film theory goes from turn-of-the-century scientific motion studies to the virtual movements of today. Considers theories of space, time, and motion, including Eisenstein's theory of montage and architecture. Treats visual technology and sensate space, the cultural history of the cinematic apparatus, the body and physical existence, affect and gender, and screen theory. Different theoretical positions guide us in understanding and reading films.

This course is offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as AFVS181.

This course meets from 12PM to 1:30PM on Thursdays at the Carpenter Center Room B-04?

This course has an additional weekly film screening, Wednesday at 7:15 in the Carpenter Center Lecture Hall (B03).

Offered jointly with the Department of Art, FIlm, and Visual Studies as AFVS 181.

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Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

• PhD Handbook
• Scandinavian Studies
• Graduate Program Overview

A major strength of the graduate program is its flexibility. While the main focus is on German literature and cultural studies, students often include comparative literature, art, philosophy, film studies, history, and history of science in their coursework and dissertation. Under the guidance of the Director of Graduate Studies, students develop a plan of study that aims, on the one hand, for broad general knowledge of the field as a whole and, on the other, for special emphases of their own. Often, dissertation topics emerge from seminar papers; in addition, preparation for the Ph.D. general exam is specifically geared toward developing expertise in a period and a genre. For information about intellectual interests represented in the department visit the Intellectual Life and Recent Dissertations pages.

Teaching is required for the Ph.D. degree, not only because sound training and practice are essential for a career in higher education, but also because it provides transferable skills in many other careers for which a Ph.D. may be helpful. Graduate students normally begin teaching in their third year of study. New teachers take a course in foreign language pedagogy, and all graduate students involved in language teaching profit from the guidance of the language program coordinator. Opportunities are provided to teach elementary and intermediate language classes, where the graduate student is responsible for the entire weekly instruction of a class. Many of our graduate students assist in high-enrollment courses on literature, film, thought, and culture given by members of the department or professors in related departments; in such courses, the graduate student leads a weekly discussion group under the direction of the course head. Graduate students may also participate as teaching fellows in the General Education program, again as leaders of small-group discussion sections that accompany lectures given by a professor. Our students have benefited not only from the teaching opportunities these courses offer, but also from General Education seminars, a special category of course in which they participate in developing the syllabus and materials for a General Education course and receive training in skills needed for teaching undergraduates who are not necessarily specializing in the field.

The department conducts regular professional development workshops designed to help graduate students prepare to apply for positions, polish their interviewing skills, practice giving a talk in connection with a job application, and create other materials useful in the job search. For information about what our former graduate students are doing now, see  Careers .

We also have a regular workshop for dissertation-writers and a colloquium where graduate students at all levels share their work. Every two years, our graduate students design and organize a conference on a topic of their choice; beyond developing organizational skills, this conference allows our students to engage with graduate students at other universities and to get to know more closely the distinguished scholar who gives the keynote speech. Our program has special connections with the Humboldt University in Berlin: every year, several students from the Humboldt come to do research here and participate in our dissertation-writers’ workshop; students from our own cohort may also choose to spend time studying at the Humboldt in Berlin. For more information on this international network visit Humboldt University PhD-Net .

The rich resources that Harvard offers scholars in Germanic studies include Widener Library’s holdings, which many consider the best German studies research collection in North America; Houghton Library, with its collection of medieval manuscripts and the papers of such major German poets as Hofmannsthal, Rilke, Brecht, and Heine, as well as annotated typescripts of W.G. Sebald’s prose works; the map room in Pusey Library is a revelation; and the Harvard Film Archive, whose collection of 35- and 16-millimeter German films, videos, press booklets, and photographs is unique.

For more information on our graduate program, please contact Professor Daniel Carranza , Director of Graduate Studies. Inquiries about admission and financial aid should be addressed to the Admissions Office , Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Holyoke Center Room 350, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Online submission of the application is encouraged via the application portal . We are now accepting applications for the 2024-2025 school year.

Review graduate program requirements

Secondary Field

Students seeking a secondary Ph.D. field in German take a minumum of four courses in the department. Reading knowledge of German is a pre-requisite.

Review secondary field requirements

Reading Lists for A.M. and Ph.D. Candidates

• A.M. Examination - List of Works
• Ph.D. Principal Reading List (Literature, Philosophy, Theory)
• Ph.D. Reading List (Supplement I: Film)
• Ph.D. Reading List (Supplement II: Music)
• Ph.D. Reading List (Supplement III: Architecture)
• Ph.D. Reading List (Supplement IV: Visual Art)
• Dissertations 2023-2011

Art, Film, and Visual Studies

Undergraduate

The concentration in Art, Film, and Visual Studies (AFVS) cultivates skills in both the practice and the critical study of the visual arts. The modes of teaching combine the intensity of conservatory programs with the broad intellectual aims of a liberal arts college. Within AFVS, there are three different areas of focus—1) studio arts, 2) film/video making, and 3) film and visual studies—and each have slightly different requirements.

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Film Fest at HDS Spotlights 'Important Stories That Need to be Heard'

Harvard students and independent filmmakers recently showcased their original works during Harvard Divinity School's fifth Film Fest .

The festival, held this spring on the Harvard Divinity School campus, was founded as a student-led initiative with the belief that films and filmmaking are important tools for advancing academic scholarship. The festival provides the opportunity for students and others to explore the intersectionality of film and faith.

“HDS is the perfect platform for a festival like this one, which is about religion—or faith—and film,” says Mario Cader-Frech, MRPL candidate, and president of the HDS Film Fest. “It serves as an incredible platform or steppingstone for deeper and longer studies. I think all of the movies this year are trying to bring the message of finding some type of light and sharing it forward.”

The festival kicked off with a screening of Angel Studios’ new movie, Cabrini, directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde.

Cabrini provides a glimpse into the humanitarian efforts of Francesca Cabrini, or “Mother Cabrini,” in New York City in the 1890s and early 1900s. Mother Cabrini is remembered today, alongside her many remarkable acts of kindness, as a saint in the Catholic Church.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion with Cabrini ’s writer and producer Rod Barr and Dritan Nesho, CEO of HarrisX and Harvard IQSS Fellow and College Lecturer. The conversation was moderated by Armando Fumagalli, chair of the HDS Film Festival panels and Professor of Semiotics and Director of the master's degree program in International Screenwriting and Production at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy.

The three independent films were Smile4Kime (dir. Elena Guzman), Fanm Man Mon: Women of the Mountain Lands (dir. Love Souley), and Te Puna Ora (dir. Kiran Jandu). During the post-screening panel discussion, director Kiran Jandu noted that all three of the female-directed pictures highlight “the divine feminine.”

Each of them celebrates the lives and experiences of women among their friends and within their local communities.

Smile4Kime is a particularly powerful tribute to director Elena Guzman’s friend, Kimberley “Kime” Edwards, who passed away in 2019. The film seamlessly shifts between interview sessions with Edwards and beautiful animated segments that show what words alone cannot express.

“Part of my commitment as a scholar is using film,” said Guzman, a 2023-24 research associate at the HDS Women’s Studies in Religion Program . “It is scholarship. I call my film a living altar. It’s not only a memorialization of my friend, Kimberely, but it’s also a way for her to continue to do the work she wanted to do when she was on this physical plane.”

The award-winning documentary Beyond Utopia played to a packed house. The documentary mainly follows the perilous escapes of the Roh family, with the close assistance of pastor Seungeun Kim, and of Soyeon Lee’s 17-year-old son, Han Jeong-cheong, from North Korea. After an incredibly moving and gripping two-hour runtime, Fumagalli moderated a Q&A session with director Madeleine Gavin.

“At a certain point, I remember I woke up one morning and was like, ‘This film has to be made,” recalled Gavin. “We need to find a way to bring North Korean [civilian] voices forward.”

Angieri’s Integrate.Me details the director’s own journey battling post-traumatic stress disorder, going from despair to new life.

“I suppose the experience of making the film was part of my integration journey, which I consider a spiritual practice,” Angieri recalled. “Throughout [filming] I was also working with a team, digging into my vulnerabilities, discussing things I would have prior just kept hidden. It allowed me to expand and share these things in a creative way.”

The student panel served as a fitting conclusion to the festival, which continues to grow in scope and participation by both HDS and Harvard community members, as well as an interested public.

Rhodes, who is also a board member for the festival, sees the Film Fest as a way to provide a platform for “important stories that need to be heard.”

“If we want to make an impact in the world, we need to take advantage of the resources that we have and use them to do something positive,” Rhodes said. “The films we feature are centered around religious literacy, social justice, and community.”

— by Suan Sonna, HDS news correspondent

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