Film Studies Program

Creating a film is a team effort. From pre-production to post-production, it takes writers, actors, cinematographers, editors, producers, directors, distributors, curators, and more to create and release a film. Upon graduation, our students can have experience in all these roles. 

We show our students the importance of collaboration through our partnerships with community organizations like the Frozen River Film Festival, which often showcases student film projects.

We also partner with other WSU departments to offer additional courses that will help make you a well-rounded professional in the film industry. These courses from other departments focus on film music, acting, and video production. 

By teaching the history and art form of film, as well as hands-on technical skills in filmmaking, we prepare our students for the field by building a variety of analytical, research-based, and creative project opportunities right into our curriculum..

Declare Your Major in Film Studies

Program at a Glance

The Film Studies major consists of 39 credits. You’ll learn about:

  • cinematic techniques and narrative form
  • specific genres like horror, science fiction, war, documentary, and others
  • American and world cinema
  • the history and scope of narrative filmmaking

You’ll also complete coursework and projects in film culture with an emphasis on important historical and critical trends and style.

Get Involved on Campus & in the Community

Film Studies students are active in several projects, courses, and activities that support the making and promotion of films.

You’ll enjoy extracurricular experiences like:

Get a Job in Any Field

A Film Studies degree prepares our students to pursue a wide variety of careers.

Some professions you can go on to work in include:

  • Advertising
  • Cinematography
  • Directing
  • Entertainment law
  • Film review writing
  • Filmmaking
  • Graphic design and computer software
  • Production finance
  • Teaching 
  • Technical writing and editing

Alumni

Hailey Torborg is the Spring 2021 WSU Film Studies Outstanding Student. Hailey graduates with majors in Film Studies and Advertising and a minor in Creative Digital Media.

Hailey was President of Film Club for 3 years, interned at Frozen River Film Festival, volunteered at Mountainfilm, and helped lead two of our University Theme Film Series as well as co-direct the documentary 2020: One Week on Campus and host a number of special event screenings –and always with good humor and a great work ethic.

Whatever she undertakes, she will do so with aplomb and success!

Brynn Artley is an accomplished filmmaker, curator and scholar who has contributed greatly to the Film Studies program, the Frozen River Film Festival, StartUp Winona State and the University Marketing & Communications office during her 3.5 years here.

As an accomplished filmmaker, Brynn had her work selected for the Frozen River Film Festival and the Eagan Harvest Festival of Art, and her most recent film, “The Connection Project,” is a collaboration between StartUp Winona State and Ambient House Productions featuring over 30 local students, faculty and community members.

Aside from her filmmaking—Brynn was a videographer for the university for 2 years—Brynn helped curate the Resilience Film Series in 2018 and interned at Frozen River Film Festival, creating trailers and other content for both events.

She maintained a 4.0 grade point average, published numerous articles and reviews in POVwinona and attended the Telluride Mountainfilm Travel Study twice, meeting and interviewing a number of accomplished documentary filmmakers there.

Brynn has been a critically insightful and deeply engaged student with an obvious passion for film during her time in our program. Always among the top students in any class, Brynn is a skillful writer, researcher, and presenter.

She is also incredibly generous, often helping other students improve their own work and agreeing to share her own as a model for other students. She is incredibly creative and thoroughly professional, uniting these talents in her work as a videographer for WSU and as a filmmaker in her own right.

She has recently been featured as both an interviewee and an interviewer on Frozen River Film Festival’s fall programming with her film “Maternity for a Weekend” and looks forward to a bright future in the industry.

Brynn graduated Summa Cum Laude and was named the WSU Film Studies Program’s Outstanding Student in Fall 2020.

A double major in Film Studies and English: Writing, Madeline Peterson graduated Cum Laude from Winona State in Spring 2020.

She interned with Minnesota Film & TV and Olmsted Medical Center; volunteered at Mountainfilm, Frozen River, and Catalyst Content festivals; managed Film Studies social media accounts; coordinated events with Gray Duck Theater; and helped curate WSU’s Theme Film Series on Resilience in 2018 and Careers, Conflicts and Callings in 2019–while working on her own creative screenplays and projects.

Madeline was named the WSU Film Studies Program’s Outstanding Student in Spring 2020.

Contact the English Department

Email Dr. Andrea Wood at awood@winona.edu or Dr. Danielle Schwartz at danielle.schwartz@winona.edu for more information about the Film Studies program. 

Department of English
Minné 304

Office Hours

Monday–Friday: 8:30am-4pm

Summer hours may vary

Ann-Marie Dunbar
Department Chair, Professor

507.457.2431

Email Ann-Marie Dunbar
Alisha Syrmopoulos
Office Manager

507.457.5440

Email Alisha Syrmopoulos