Examine the media that shape our human experience.
Our department offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Cinema & Media Studies (CMS). Through media criticism, film history and culture, and contemporary cinema and technology courses, CMS students investigate how visual media shape our experiences and perceptions of the world. They apply their analytical skills to hands-on practice, including internships.
Undergraduate Programs
Careers
Visual media literacy is an increasingly critical skill in diverse fields. Alumni bring valued perspectives and insights to organizations in a wide range of fields spanning media, technology, arts and culture, education, entertainment and more.
Many CMS students pair their studies with a degree in STEM, the social sciences or a pre-professional field.
Career Paths
Alumni have been successful in roles including:
- Assignment editor
- Digital content producer
- Film festival programmer
- Film publicist
- Marketing director
- Product designer
- Educator
- Script clearance analyst
- Virtual and augmented reality producer
- Videographer
- Screenwriter
Go further with research
Research topics in our department are as diverse as our students and faculty. Each year, a wide range of scholarly, editorial and translation projects come out of Cinema & Media Studies. Recent faculty projects and publications have covered topics such as global art cinema, feminist approaches to silent film history, and history of production design in Hollywood. Graduate students have participated in research throughout the U.S. as well as in China, Denmark, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Poland, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Mexico and Switzerland.
Find Yourself in Cinema & Media Studies
From smartphones to the big screen, explore how media influence society.
Department of Cinema and Media Studies Stories
Four Dean's Medalists, Working Toward Change
The four new graduates honored as College of Arts & Sciences Dean's Medalists for 2023 are all working to improve our world, in different ways.
Making Films, Finding Community
As UW student Kenna Fojas (Cinema & Media Studies, Psychology) prepares to graduate, she's set to direct a film she wrote with guidance from a screenwriting idol.
Arts & Sciences' Fab Four for 2022
Four Dean's Medalists were selected by the College of Arts & Sciences for their varied and impressive work as UW undergraduates.