CINEMA STUDIES is an interdisciplinary program dedicated to the promotion of audiovisual literacy and cross-cultural exploration, through the focused study of film in its various historical and aesthetic contexts. Cinema Studies faculty teach a rich variety of courses, engaging with a diverse range of topics, from pioneering filmmaking in New Jersey to the latest trends in digital moving image media and gaming; from Hollywood to Bollywood; from theories of genre to theories of gender; from French comedies to Mafia movies; from Third Cinema to global cult films and horror.
At the undergraduate level, we offer a Major as well as a Minor. At the graduate level, we offer a Graduate Certificate Program, and a significant number of doctoral students undertake advanced research on cinema.
Cinema Studies students at Rutgers benefit from a lively film culture on campus--where the year-long New Jersey Film Festival and a multitude of other film-related events are held, including director appearances, public lectures, discussion sessions, and workshops--as well as from the university's proximity to New York City's many screening venues. Cinema Studies supports and recognizes student research through its Essay and Scholarly Media Project Awards and its Small Grants Program.
Contacts:
Cinema Studies Program
Academic Building, 4th floor
15 Seminary Place
College Avenue Campus
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Professor Meheli Sen, Acting Program Director for Fall 2026, Cinema Studies Program:
Professor David Fresko, Assistant Undergraduate Director:
Fatimah Fischer, Undergraduate and Graduate Program Support:
Albert Nigrin, Executive Director/Curator, Rutgers Film Co-op/NJ Media Arts Center, presenters of the New Jersey Film Festival, the New Jersey International Film Festival, and the United States Super 8 Film and Digital Video Festival: