The Film Department
The Film Department of the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha was founded in 1998.
In 2009 the Film Department received authorization from the Commission for Higher Education to grant a first academic degree, B.Ed.F.A (Bachelor of Education Fine Arts) in Film Making and Film Education, together with a film teaching diploma. Following the experience accumulated by the Art Department, the film students combine the study of film making with film teaching.
There are more than 240 high schools in Israel where film theory and film making can be chosen for graduation. The Film Department’s graduates, film makers and film teachers, can combine their film making activity with teaching film at all levels, from elementary to high schools. The department offers studies in two tracks: academic (B.Ed.F.A) and non-academic, certificate studies.
The Film Department at the Faculty of Arts, strives to offer film students a rich educational palette and broad cultural horizons in order to help them become inquisitive, daring and frontier-challenging filmmakers.
The studies last four years; and graduation films are produced in the fifth year. The studies – all in all, over 130 academic hours – are grouped around three areas: film making, film history and theory and pedagogy. In the course of four years the students are offered one of the richest curriculums in Israel: an average of 33 weekly hours per semester. The academic year spreads over 2 semesters with 3-4 teaching days per week and an additional day of training at the various schools, starting with elementary and progressing to high schools. At least one more day is taken up by film exercises. At the end of each year, the students produce films growing in complexity and length in all genres: fiction, documentary and experimental.
The faculty (36) is composed of respected scholars of film theory and criticism and prominent, active film makers, directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, editors, composers, producers. In 2013, three faculty members completed full length theatrical films and two faculty members completed full length documentary films.
The curriculum is enriched every year with special workshops on postproduction, casting, sound and art design etc.
Personal tutoring is an important component of the teaching method practiced at the department. Tutoring accompanies every production, starting with the first year’s short films and offered more extensively to the graduation films, fiction and documentary. During the first and second year tutoring is given by the department’s staff while for the more advanced projects, tutors are recruited among leading film makers in Israel. Tutoring is offered in scriptwriting, directing, cinematography, production, casting, editing and sound design.
The students write, direct, film, produce or edit during their studies short narrative fiction, experimental, videoart and/or documentary films as well as cross genre films. Every year about 25 short films are produced within the department in two main production seasons, the summer recess and the midterm break. Shorter exercises are shot and edited during the weekends. In the first year every student makes two short films of 3 and 5 minutes’ each.
At the end of the second year, the scripts are assessed by a committee and if approved, the students produce their mid-study narrative film: 8-10 minutes in length.
The third year is tagged ‘the Year of Documentary,’ during which the students make two short documentaries. This is preceded by an intensive documentary workshop held in the 2nd year, usually grouped under a common theme or location.
In the fourth year the students complete the scripts for their graduation films, of approximately 20 minutes, which are produced after the completion of their formal studies. If they choose, they can graduate with more than one film: a narrative and a documentary.
The department encourages students’ initiatives to make experimental or additional short films during recesses. All film production is supported by tutoring in every aspect of filmmaking.
Real-reel – A two week documentary workshop held in the second year. It centers on social issues, introducing the students to documentary film making, research in an attempt to raise their social awareness.
Directing actors – A workshop held throughout the second semester of the third year where every student is given two days to rehearse a scene with actors. The scenes are taped in the studio and both film students and actors receive detailed feedback.
Location – A joint cinematography and directing actors’ workshop held in the fourth year. The students write their own scenes and shoot them under the supervision of the cinematography and acting teachers, on location.
The curriculum offers high level film history and theory courses spread out over the 4 years of study. At the end of each course, the students are required to write an analytical paper that conforms with basic academic rules, and is backed by bibliography. In the third year the students participate in a seminar at the conclusion of which they are required to present a detailed seminar paper.
The courses range from introductory courses in film history, theory and cinematic language to courses on film genres, monographs of directors, world cinema and courses in advanced theory.
Completing all film history and theory studies with passing grades is a prerequisite to receiving the degree.
The curriculum is divided between introductory and advanced courses on education ranging from psychology, sociology, philosophy, visual literacy to enrichment courses on the image of the teacher in film, sociological importance of film studies etc. The general education studies are rounded up with a community project, initiated, planned and produced by the students, using film as a tool of empowerment.
The students train in different schools from elementary to high schools, attending first as observers and then developing syllabi at various levels of complexity, at first for one class and at a more advanced stage, a cluster of classes around one subject. The preparation of the syllabi is analyzed in special pedagogy classes and, once approved, each student gives one to 5 classes based on the syllabi they wrote.
The Film Department cooperates with a number of acting studios, including the Yoram Levinstein Actors’ Studio and the Ivana Chubbuck (L.A.- T.A) actors’ workshops, in order to allow film students to gain practical training in directing actors. Cooperation has started with the Film and Theatre Art Design workshops lead by acclaimed designer Rakefet Levi and the Rimon school of Music.
At the students’ disposal is a well stocked equipment store with 16 video cameras, all tapeless HD, advanced grip, light and sound equipment. 7 Avid Media Composer editing units, Online editing suite equipped with DaVinci and Symphony programs allow to finish the films within the department, saving the student extra expenses at commercial postproduction facilities.
The library is well equipped with books about film theory, film history as well as film magazines all this besides books on related matters such as arts, philosophy, literature and theatre. The film collection comprises more than 1,500 films.
The Film Department organizes a yearly festive screening marathon Cine Forte at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Screening the graduation films serves as the launching pad for the fresh graduates, introducing them to the film and television industry representatives. The opening night is a festive graduation event while the following day is a joyful marathon screening of many of the department’s films. A new Cine Forte tradition recently introduced is Cine Forte International, which allows us to focus every year on a different film school in the world and its achievements. The first film school to participate in Cine Forte Intl. was La Femis, France, followed by IFS, Cologne.
The department initiates screenings of the student films at the various cinematheques in Israel and other venues frequented by young Israeli cinephiles.
The students participate every year in special projects, often initiated by the department. In 2008 the students produced a series of short documentaries for the Acre Festival for Alternative Theatre, as well as a series of experimental shorts based on famous monologues of the Hebrew Theatre. In 2010 the students had produced several videodances with the dancers of the renowned Bat Sheba company, screened at the Suzanne Dellal Center. Four film makers have participated in Crossing Borders, sponsored by the Goethe Institute.
Together with the Department of Video Art, the Film Department cooperated with Angers School of Higher Education – ESBA-TALM in an experimental project “False Witnesses”, which resulted in Parades, a film screened among others at FidMarseilles 2013.
For four years, between 2008-2012, the Film Department, its students and fresh graduates, produced a monthly TV magazine for the cable and satellite platforms’ community channels.
The department’s faculty has initiated the recognition of short (not student) films as a legitimate and important film genre. This initiative has met with success and will start bearing fruit at the beginning of 2015 after the Israeli Film Council agreed to allocate substantial sums to the support of shorts. At present the Film Department has undertaken to start academic research projects dedicated to shorts.
The Department organizes, on a continuous basis, encounters with representatives of the Israeli film and television industry — for the benefit of both students and the industry representatives. Among the guests are the directors of the various film funds, commissioning editors, producers, festival directors as well as representatives of the various filmmaker unions.
A special meeting is held on a weekly basis often turning into a master class with filmmakers and artists from related fields. The encounters include screenings of films or excerpts followed by discussions with the filmmakers ranging from scriptwriters, directors, cinematographers, art and sound designers, actors.