MovieMaker Names SMC to Top 30 Best Film Schools List

MovieMaker Magazine Names Santa Monica College Among 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. & Canada

Follows 2022 Appearance on Moviemaker’s Top 40 List in North America, Plus Top 12 in the U.S. West & Northwest

SANTA MONICA, CA—MovieMaker magazine has once again named Santa Monica College (SMC) one of the best film schools in North America. This year, SMC appears on the 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. & Canada list, alongside institutions such as AFI Conservatory, Columbia University School of the Arts, Northwestern University, New York University, UCLA, and USC, among others.

In 2022, SMC was named to MovieMaker’s Top 40 in the U.S. & Canada list, as well as its Top 12 in the U.S. West and Northwest list. The annual list recognizes schools that prepare students for every aspect of moviemaking. SMC was recognized as “one of the most affordable options for learning the ropes while studying near the epicenter of the entertainment industry.”

"Santa Monica College offers an accessible, affordable film education at a fraction of the price of a four-year university,” said Tim Molloy, MovieMaker’s editor-in-chief. “Salvador Carrasco, the head of SMC’s film production program, makes sure students take a hands-on approach to film production so they come out of SMC with real experience, whether they go looking immediately for opportunities in TV or film, or further their educations: SMC has a strong record of transfers to UCLA and other top universities.”

Molloy further stated that “we couldn't agree more with Professor Carrasco's belief that students should stand out based on their talent, attitude, hard work and reliability — none of which has anything to do with socioeconomic background.' Every day, SMC is helping even the playing field."

Santa Monica College offers two-year film studies and film production programs enabling students to focus on scholarly theory or filmmaking. Students receive instruction in all facets of preproduction, production, and postproduction from faculty who are actively working in the film industry. While earning credits toward continued higher education from a school with a stellar record of transfers, students actually make films, giving them the experience necessary to land a job in filmmaking.

“We are delighted to have once again been ranked as one of the best film schools in North America by such a prestigious, well-respected institution as MovieMaker magazine,” said Salvador Carasco, SMC film production faculty lead, who went on to state that this distinction helps validate the program’s two main philosophical tenets:

1. Students should be able to receive the highest-quality filmmaking education without having to incur financial debt for years, if not decades to come.
2. Our faculty are actively teaching, challenging, and helping our students achieve what they set out to do with on-set professional guidance and mentorship. Rather than send out students to film on their own (which they can do outside of school), SMC’s approach ensures that when students graduate from our program, they have role models to emulate in terms of working methodology, safety procedures, and high-standard results expressed in films that have something to say about the complex world we live in.

“Both of the above set us apart from many other film schools, which is why MovieMaker’s recognition is so meaningful,” Carrasco said.

Since its launch in the fall of 2010, Santa Monica College’s award-winning film program has made 30 short films linked to the capstone class, Film 33. In the last ten years, eight SMC student films have been selected for/won accolades at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival (including 2021’s Best Student Film winner “Broken Layers”).

SMC student films have won awards at numerous regional, national, and international film festivals including at the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum, the Panavision Limelight Award at the Ojai Film Festival; Best Short at the Vienna Independent Film Festival, Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival, several Gold Remi Awards at WorldFest-Houston, Best Short at Port Blair International Film Festival in India, Best Short Drama at the San Diego International Film Festival; Best Short at the Prague Independent Film Festival; Prix Interculturel at the International Festival of Film Schools in Munich; and Winner at the Women's Independent Film Festival, among many other awards.

In addition, the film program has received production grants from The Golden Globe Foundation (formerly known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), co-production sponsorships from Keslow Camera, Roundabout Entertainment, Enhanced Media and the Next Generation Indie Film Awards Foundation.

The complete list of MovieMaker’s 30 Best Film Schools (note that there are 31 schools listed due to a tie) in the U.S. and Canada of 2024 follows, in alphabetical order:

1.  AFI Conservatory
2. Antioch University
3. Brooklyn College, Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema
4. Chapman University, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
5. Columbia College Chicago, Cinema and Television Arts Department
6. Columbia University School of the Arts
7. Community College of Aurora, Department of Cinematic Arts
8. Emerson College
9. Full Sail University
10. Loyola Marymount University
11. The New School, School of Media Studies and Film
12. New York Film Academy
13. New York University
14. Northwestern University
15. Oklahoma City Community College, Gray Frederickson Department of Digital Cinema
16. Ringling College of Art and Design
17. Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts Filmmaking Program
18. Santa Monica College
19. Savannah College of Art and Design, School of Film and Acting
20. Scottsdale Community College
21. Southern Oregon University
22. Syracuse University
23. Temple University
24. Toronto Film School
25. University of California, Los Angeles
26. University of Colorado Denver, Film and Television
27. University of North Carolina School of the Arts
28. The University of Texas at Austin
29. University of Southern California
30. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
31. Vancouver Film School

MovieMaker is dedicated to the art and craft of making movies. Its list of the 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada in 2024 appears in their latest issue (the magazine is also online at moviemaker.com). For more information about the magazine, contact publisher Deirdre McCarrick deirdre@moviemaker.com or editor-in-chief Tim Molloy via tim.molloy@moviemaker.com.

SMC offers an Associate of Science degree and Certificate of Achievement in Film Production. To learn more, visit smc.edu/film or email Carrasco_Salvador@smc.edu. The film program—as well as the films that come out of it, once they have been through the festival circuit— is on YouTube as the “Santa Monica College Film Program” channel.

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About Santa Monica College:

Santa Monica College is a California Community College accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). For 33 consecutive years, SMC has been California’s leading transfer college to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and other University of California campuses. The college also tops in transfers to the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University and is the top feeder west of the Mississippi to the Ivy League Columbia University. In addition to the Film Production Program, more than 110 career training degrees and certificates at SMC—in fields ranging from the traditional (Accounting, Early Childhood Education, Nursing) to the emerging (Aquaculture, Homeless Services Work, Biotechnology, Sustainable Technologies, and a baccalaureate degree in Interaction Design)—offer professional preparation for students interested in directly entering the job market, transferring to a four-year school, or upgrading specific skills. SMC provides news and cultural enrichment through its NPR radio station KCRW (89.9 FM), the Broad Stage at the SMC Performing Arts Center, and lifelong learning through distinctive programs such as its Emeritus Program for older adults.