The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University, is the largest, university-based centre for the study of film animation, film production and film studies in Canada. Each year it accepts some 200 students from across Canada and many other countries into its undergraduate and graduate programs. Students are taught by internationally renowned film artists and scholars, all of whom are active in their fields.

The School has been of extraordinary importance since the late 19th century. We are proud of our graduates who contribute to the on-going development and understanding of cinema with award-winning independent films and innovative teaching and research. The determination to explore all possibilities of the medium of film is central to the School’s efforts. This entails addressing newer technologies and paradigms pertaining to moving images, while maintaining a firm grasp of the rich legacy of film traditions.

Every student takes film studies courses in which they see work from around the world in original format; all film production students shoot in 16mm or Super 16mm film, and can elect to work in other media, while learning both analog and digital post-production strategies. Film Animation students create frame-by-frame art in a remarkable variety of ways, capturing their visions on everything from Oxberry cameras to 3D software. Whatever means is used for expression, however, the emphasis is placed decisively on helping student enhance their individual talents and ideas.

Currently housed on three floors in a downtown Montreal office building, the School looks forward to its future home in the Grey Nuns building that will permit it to expand such facilities as shooting studios and screening rooms for students, as well as research spaces for faculty. The School offers what many recognize as the finest education available in Canada, one which views cinema as an international field of study. Its film studies scholars teach and publish on a wide range of national cinemas as well as on issues of importance to filmmakers and film viewers everywhere, its film production and film animation faculty have traveled and made films on several continents, and the School is currently developing new academic exchanges in China, Cuba, France and Germany.

Marielle Nitoslawska