THR Lists the 25 Best Film Schools

1. American Film Institute

Among the most selective film schools in America, AFI's Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies in Los Angeles offers a two-year conservatory program where students specialize in fields including directing, producing and writing, often coming to the institute after working in the industry or having attended other schools. Its "fellows" are typically more mature (average age is 27) and benefit from speakers and teachers drawn from the highest levels of the industry, supported by the full weight of AFI itself. Comparing it to cross-town rivals UCLA and USC is a bit of apples-and-oranges, given its small size and emphasis on specialization, but AFI's glittering parade of alumni, from David Lynch to Darren Aronofsky, remains unrivaled when it comes to auteur filmmakers. Students are guaranteed the freedom to make a thesis film and are given access to SAG members for their casts and $13,500 in financing. If you know where you're going, AFI can get you there.

TUITION $38,416 for first year; $37,112 for second year (plus $8,033 for thesis)

DEGREES MFA, certificate of completion

NOTABLE ALUMNI Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), David Lynch (Blue Velvet), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

"I love AFI and would be nowhere without it." -- David Lynch

2. University of Southern California

The richest film school in the world (alum George Lucas contributed $175 million, and alum Robert Zemeckis has given a bundle, too), USC probably has more graduates working in the industry than any other school and has the greatest support from the industry itself, with 10,000-plus alums who routinely donate millions for state-of-the-art facilities -- and notable support from non-graduate Steven Spielberg. Its Peter Stark Producing Program, under The Graduate producer Larry Turman, remains the premier venue for aspiring producers and execs. Insiders were split when asked to choose between AFI and USC for the No. 1 spot, with AFI winning largely on the basis of its choice student body. But USC takes the candle when it comes to technical training. Says Dean Elizabeth M. Daley: "One of the hardest things to understand is the culture of filmmaking. You're not gonna get that out of a book. Come here and you'll understand." She's right, thanks to unrivaled facilities, an emphasis on film history and technique and its great ties with Hollywood -- a plus for some, but not for those more interested in indie films. The upside: It's a vast dream factory. The downside: It's a vast dream factory.

TUITION $42,000 (plus room and board)

DEGREES Critical studies, B.A., M.A., MFA and Ph.D. programs in everything from film and TV to animation and digital arts

NOTABLE ALUMNI George Lucas (Star Wars), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind), Jon Landau (Avatar)

"USC is run in many ways like a studio. The challenges that were given to us had to do with the realities of the industry and financing, and I think those were important lessons to learn." -- Lee Unkrich, director, Toy Story 3

3. Beijing Film Academy

If one film school anywhere in the world has shaped a whole nation, it's the Beijing Film Academy, China's most elite school for film direction, production and writing. Each year, it accepts about 500 applicants -- primarily from China -- out of 100,000. The school is a source of new talent for film and TV production and closely linked with the nearby Beijing Film Studio. It's also the place where such directors as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige -- the ones who created arguably the most distinct new wave of filmmaking since America in the early 1970s -- cut their teeth. (At 27, Zhang had to get special permission to attend after the Cultural Revolution because he had passed the cut-off age.)

TUITION Program fees range from $1,240 to $1,550 for local students; international students pay $6,665 to $7,905 per year for film programs. Partial and full scholarships are available based on need and merit and are awarded on an individual basis.

DEGREES B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. programs in everything from performance and direction to cinematography and animation. All degree programs are conducted in Chinese, though international students may take some courses in English or study Chinese at the Film Academy.

NOTABLE ALUMNI Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers), Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine), Tian Zhuangzhuang (The Blue Kite)

4. New York University Tisch School of the Arts

To study film in New York is to plunge into the belly of a very different beast than Hollywood, but for gritty artists like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, NYU has proved a direct route to the top. Where else can you sit in a class of 12 and hear alum James Franco teach you how to turn a poem into a movie? Graduates also vie for a $200,000 prize to complete a debut feature film -- a gift no other school offers. In addition to its New York campus, Tisch School of the Arts Asia, located in Singapore, offers MFA degrees in animation and digital arts, dramatic writing and film production. Summer programs include professional workshops and noncredit certificate courses.

TUITION $45,674

DEGREES B.A., BFA, MFA, MPS, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in moving-image archiving and preservation as well as performance studies or cinema studies

NOTABLE ALUMNI Todd Phillips (The Hangover), Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men), Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich)

"Getting accepted to Tisch meant one thing to me: hope. It validated all of my dreams and made the concept of becoming a filmmaker a tangible possibility. Teachers like Tom Drysdale and Haig Manoogian inspired me, infusing me with a lifelong passion for cinema history. I carry their artistic philosophy with me on every film: Never compromise, never stop asking questions and never stop being a student of film." -- Chris Columbus, writer-director, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

5. University of California Los Angeles

UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television has long suffered in comparison with its richer and more industry-connected rival USC, but its vibe is distinctly different, with a multicultural campus that ranks among the best in California. It has benefited from such prestigious graduates as Francis Ford Coppola and Alexander Payne; from teachers like producer Peter Guber; and from its connection with the respected UCLA Film & Television Archive, whose collection is "second only to the Library of Congress," according to Dean Teri Schwartz. The well-regarded Schwartz will likely determine UCLA's future standing: After serving for years at Loyola Marymount, the former producer (and Goldie Hawn's onetime producing partner) joined the university in 2009, replacing veteran Robert Rosen. Now insiders are waiting to see how things will change under her leadership. Look for her to stress "humanistic storytelling and global diversity" -- quite different from the commercial emphasis of many other film schools.

TUITION B.A.: $12,842 (California resident), $35,720 (non-resident); MFA: $22,208 (California resident), $34,453 (non-resident); M.A. or Ph.D.: $13,549 (California resident), $28,651 (non-resident)

DEGREES B.A., M.A., MFA and Ph.D.

NOTABLE ALUMNI Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking), Alexander Payne (Sideways)

"The key is having a point of view -- which is very much the UCLA approach. You could say UCLA filmmakers try to bring an indie attitude even to studio pictures. We always try to find some kind of subjectivity." -- Justin Lin, director, Fast Five

6. California Institute of the Arts

CalArts is way beyond what founder Walt Disney could imagine. "It is a paradox, an experimental art school," says CalArts School of Film/Video Dean Steve Anker. "You usually have music, theater, dance conservatories and art schools, but you don't have them under the same roof." Anker's film/video school is most famous for training animation talents, but besides character-based and experimental animation, you can study dramatic narrative, documentary, experimental live action, multimedia and installation. CalArts-spawned geniuses like John Lasseter and Tim Burton can do more than draw -- they can draw on the artistic talents around them. Says Anker: "CalArts in general, and certainly the school of film and video, is this very large laboratory for the creative arts." "Large" is right: The classrooms occupy 11 acres' worth of square footage 30 miles north of Los Angeles.

TUITION $37,684

DEGREES BFA, MFA in film, video and experimental animation; MFA in film directing; BFA in character animation

NOTABLE ALUMNI Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland), Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo), John Lasseter (chief creative officer, Pixar)

"I have so many great memories of CalArts. Sitting in the dark, hunched over the old Oxberry camera, shooting my film. The giant papier-mache butt from someone's art installation in the main gallery. Playing Lazer Tag in the empty halls in the middle of the night. But what I remember most are all the great friends that I made, many of whom I work alongside today." --Don Hall, co-director, Winnie the Pooh

7. The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague

Located in the "city of 1,000 spires and 29 McDonald's," as expatriates like to say, FAMU is the fifth-oldest film school in the world and one of the most prestigious. Created in 1946 when Prague was behind the Iron Curtain, it helped develop such iconoclastic filmmakers as Milos Forman, Ivan Passer, Agnieszka Holland, Emir Kusturica and Jiri Menzel and served as a hub for student rebels during Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution. With classes in Czech and English, its reputation is still strong enough that it draws many foreigners to its nine departments (ranging from still photography to documentaries to screenwriting), something helped by partnerships with NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, American University and Yale, all of which offer study-abroad programs there.

TUITION $45,674

DEGREES MFA in cinema and digital media

NOTABLE ALUMNI Milos Forman (Amadeus), Emir Kusturica (Black Cat, White Cat), Agnieszka Holland (The Killing)

"I believe deeply that in any film school, you can learn as much, or even more, from the fellow students as from the teachers. But in FAMU in the late 1960s and early '70s, when I was studying, some of the teachers were great. My main instructor Karel Kachyna was indeed one of the most skilled directors of his generation. Jan Matejovsky in the television directing department taught us how to be diplomatic with actors, crew and producers. I still use his very useful advice." --Agnieszka Holland

8. Columbia University School of the Arts

You know when James Schamus is one of your professors, things can't be too bad. Schamus, the head of Focus Features (who recently completed a doctorate on Carl Theodor Dreyer), is just one of the feathers in this Ivy League university's cap. Another is Oscar winner Milos Forman, the school's longtime leader. Then there's a staff that includes Barbara De Fina (Goodfellas) and Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). Names like these give Columbia intellectual credentials that dwarf its peers and have helped attract such alumni as Kathryn Bigelow, Lisa Cholodenko, James Mangold and Kimberly Peirce -- not necessarily Hollywood's most commercial filmmakers, but always among its most original. Will it remain that way under its new chair, Fine Line Features founder and indie exec Ira Deutchman? Deutchman insists on story and collaboration -- two Hollywood ideals -- yet stresses the importance of the artist. "You have to keep an eye on the business, but it's first and foremost about creating artists," he says.

TUITION MFA first and second years: $50,873 per year; M.A.: $44,264

DEGREES MFA in film; M.A. in film studies

NOTABLE ALUMNI Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking)

"My years in the film program taught me the craft of screenwriting as well as the business of making movies. In so many ways, Columbia was the perfect combination of arts: conservatory and trade school, a place where I could read Aristotle and Eisenstein on narrative theory and analyze budgets and box office like a science. The lessons learned at Columbia -- how to analyze and synthesize perspectives, how to treat your work as an ever-evolving document -- serve me every day." -- Simon Kinberg, screenwriter, X-Men: The Last Stand

9. Wesleyan University

OK, so everyone knows about the Hollywood infiltration of places like USC and UCLA. But they might be surprised to learn that Wesleyan's Film Studies program is giving those two a run for their money, with a tight-knit group of alumni that includes Michael Bay, Akiva Goldsman, Joss Whedon, Larry Mark and Rick Nicita. They and others were drawn to the Middletown, Conn.-based university not just because of the cozy feeling or its tradition in the liberal arts but largely because of the reputation of film department founder Jeanine Basinger, who makes each of her 80 film majors learn to write, direct and edit a movie by hand (yes, they learn digital, too) as well as study other subjects to enrich their films. Of course, if they want to know about movies, they can turn to Wesleyan's archive, which includes the papers of Frank Capra, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini and Clint Eastwood. "If you're studying On the Waterfront, you can look at Elia Kazan's notebook," Basinger says. "It's an amazing experience."

TUITION $55,736 (includes room and board)

DEGREES B.A. in film studies

NOTABLE ALUMNI Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl), Michael Bay (Transformers), Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand)

10. The National Film and Television School

For decades, the then-National Film School wasn't just the best place to study filmmaking in the U.K. -- it was pretty much the only one. That's now changed, but the NFTS has retained the stature that went with it despite a Beaconsfield location (away from the hub of filmmaking in London) and, until recently, dirt-poor facilities. Now it boasts a new building; a bunch of new programs; an innovative leader in indie producer Nik Powell; teachers like Stephen Frears; and access to Britain's thriving movie and TV industry through development deals with Channel 4, the BBC and Aardman. That has provided avenues for such graduates as cinematographer Roger Deakins and directors Lynne Ramsey, Nick Broomfield and David Yates.

TUITION $14,300 for residents; $32,000 for overseas students

DEGREES M.A. in film and TV

NOTABLE ALUMNI David Yates (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2), Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit), Beeban Kidron (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason)

"I would not be making films in Hollywood without it. The NFTS was absolutely vital." --Michael Caton-Jones, director, Scandal

11. La Femis

Founded in 1986 by Cultural Minister Jack Lang, La Femis is France's most prestigious film school. So prestigious, in fact, that only three percent of students who take the entrance exam are accepted by the state-run academy whose grads typically go on to win prizes at film festivals across the globe.

TUITION $517 for French citizens; $15,334 for foreigners

DEGREES Undergraduate degrees in screenwriting, directing, producing, sound design, editing and film distribution

NOTABLE ALUMNI Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool), Noemie Lvovsky (Feelings), Celine Sciamma (Tomboy)

12. University of North Carolina School of the Arts

Don't come to Carolina unless you're serious about filmmaking. Academically rigorous, the UNC School of the Arts is a plunge into film in collaboration with drama, music, dance, design and production studies and a 65-piece orchestra. By the third year, you're shadowing the likes of director David Gordon Green. "Our graduates have made films that receive hundreds of millions of dollars and on the other side of the spectrum won the Grand Prix at Cannes this year," says Dean Jordan Kerner. Coming soon: a new animation and gaming building.

TUITION $4,716 for residents; $17,665 for non-residents

DEGREES BFA in animation, art direction, cinematography, directing, editing and sound, producing and screenwriting. MFA in film music composition.

NOTABLE ALUMNI David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Jody Hill (Observe and Report)

"I feel like UNCSA's film school provided me with an exceptionally practical filmmaking education. You definitely learned about theory. You watched lots of films, but more than anything else, you made movies. You were always pitching your own ideas or getting feedback. You were always on a set or in an editing suite. Always. So I've found the industry to be, in many ways, just a bigger version of the world I knew from school." -- Travis Beacham, screenwriter,Clash of the Titans

13. University of Texas at Austin

Ever since Richard Linklater made Austin famous in 1991's Slacker, slacking is about the last thing anyone in UT's Department of Radio-Television-Film has done. With South by Southwest and a thriving indie scene swirling around them, they churn out work in a professional TV studio, two soundstages and digital picture, audio, editing and postproduction suites. And then half of the RTF students do two or more internships. Screenwriters mix with poets and fiction writers in the nationally ranked Michener Center MFA program.

TUITION $4,832 for Texas residents; $15,995 for non-residents; $4,371 for full-time graduate Texas residents; $8,228 for graduate non-residents

DEGREES B.S. in radio-television-film, MFA in film and media production, MFA in screenwriting

NOTABLE ALUMNI Robert Rodriguez (Machete), Matthew McConaughey (The Lincoln Lawyer), Bruce Hendricks (former president of physical production at Walt Disney Studios)

"When I acted in Dazed and Confused [during the summer before his senior year at the University of Texas], it introduced me to the challenges and triumphs involved in producing an independent film. Being a part of the Austin film scene at the time helped me get my start."--Matthew McConaughey

14. The Polish National Film, Television and Theater School

Lodz, as the school is typically called, has produced virtually all the elder statesmen of Polish cinema -- Andrzej Wajda, Jerzy Skolimowski, Krzysztof Zanussi and the late Krzysztof Kieslowski came out of the facility, which was established in 1948. After the fall of Communism, Lodz expanded and acquired modern film equipment, and the acting department was revamped to stay in step with new media and the changing times -- actors were taught simultaneously to work in theater, film and television. The school has continued to expand by establishing new departments such as production, editing, script writing, photography, digital technology and TV journalism.

TUITION $8,600-$15,800, depending on the program; students of Polish descent get a 30 percent reduction

DEGREES B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Professor

NOTABLE ALUMNI Andrzej Wajda (Ashes and Diamonds), Krzysztof Kieslowski (The Decalogue), Jerzy Skolimowski (Torrents of Spring)

15. Syracuse University

Syracuse's Department of Transmedia conveniently includes filmmaking, computer art (animation and visual effects) and video art all in one place. Go there and you'll learn the whole process, from script to preproduction to post. "We're not a factory turning out gaffers," says Dean Heath Hanlin. "We're not a boot camp for filmmakers. But we're not a theory cloud either. We're trying to turn out people who can actually make something and be smart enough to talk about it." Syracuse's 40 students a year get plenty of attention -- and some get to experience "Sorkin Week," an intense practicum with Hollywood bigwigs led by Oscar-winning alum Aaron Sorkin.

TUITION $53,790 (includes room and board)

DEGREES BFA and MFA in film, with minors and majors also available in animation/VFX

NOTABLE ALUMNI Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens), Chris Renaud (Despicable Me), Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

16. Stanford University

Even by Stanford standards, the MFA in documentary film and video program is exclusive: Eight students a year make movies the old-school way, on 16mm. "Each student is trained equally in cinematography, sound, directing and editing, and every quarter, they crew for fellow students while producing their own films," says director Jan Krawitz. Coming circa 2013: a new facility that will be a work of art in itself.

TUITION $40,050

DEGREES MFA in documentary film and video

NOTABLE ALUMNI Mark Becker (Pressure Cooker), Nancy Kates (Brother Outsider), Cynthia Wade (Born Sweet)

17. Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts

Despite being far from any entertainment capital (Tallahassee), FSU students are going places thanks to an eight-to-one student/faculty ratio, unusually generous production-cost support of student films and the Torchlight program, which has put students to work on 40 feature films shot in Florida. Coming up: an FSU partnership with effects giant Digital Domain.

TUITION $6,600 for in-state undergraduates; $24,120 for out-of-state; $21,735 for in-state graduate production; $38,092 for out-of-state)

DEGREES BFA in production, animation, digital arts; MFA in production, writing; non-degree through the Torchlight Program

NOTABLE ALUMNI Alan Ball (American Beauty), Melissa Carter (Little Black Book)

18. Emerson Visual and Media Arts School

Originally a Boston school of oratory, Emerson now boasts filmmakers and writers who are heard loud and clear in Los Angeles, where it's building a big satellite campus. When student Denis Leary asked a professor if he could perform his own scripts, the professor said, "It's Emerson! You can do anything."

TUITION $32,128 plus fees for undergraduates; $1,004 per credit plus fees for graduates

DEGREES Graduate and undergraduate degrees in visual and performing arts, writing and communications

NOTABLE ALUMNI Norman Lear (All in the Family), Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Jay Leno

19. Loyola Marymount University

LMU's 10-year-old School of Film and Television, which separates itself from the pack by stressing humanism over commercialism, is still all about getting students into the industry: One-third of all students nab internships, which often lead to real jobs (being based in L.A. helps). The new Incubator Lab matches students with real-world mentors for 18 months after graduation -- and funds one winning project. More socially conscious than most, LMU film professors mentor inner-city teens each summer, and some win scholarships. In a changing film and TV industry, new Dean Stephen Ujlaki has a vision for the future.

TUITION $37,605 for undergraduates; $985 per unit, plus tuition and fees for graduates

DEGREES B.A. in film, TV, animation and recording arts; MFA in film, TV and screenwriting

NOTABLE ALUMNI Brian Helgeland (Mystic River), Francis Lawrence (Water for Elephants), Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer)

20. University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee

UWM is far from the coastal film capitals, but its small program trains mainstream talents -- its grads shot nearly 100 episodes of CSI. It also emphasizes experimental film: Two of Film Comment's top 30 avant-garde filmmakers of the 21st century were alums.

TUITION $18,012

DEGREES BFA in film/video/new genres; MFA in film and video production

NOTABLE ALUMNI Chris Smith (American Movie)

21. Rhode Island School of Design

The 134-year-old RISD's Film, Animation and Video program trains grads in all three disciplines before they choose one. The art forms cross-pollinate: grad Gus Van Sant is a painter/photographer/director, and at RISD he told broke classmate David Byrne, "Maybe the pain of not getting paid will add to your art." After RISD, your art tends to pay off.

TUITION $39,482

DEGREES BFA in Film, Animation and Video

NOTABLE ALUMNI Gus Van Sant (Milk), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy)

"What RISD trained me for was something that now [is] the most marketable thing there is. I mean, what people are looking for now is individual styles. If you look at all the successful animators these days -- Matt Groening of The Simpsons, Trey [Parker] and Matt [Stone] at South Park, Mike Judge at King of the Hill -- they all have very distinct, original styles, and they feel much more like the RISD philosophy than the other, more specialized schools." -- Seth Macfarlane

22. Chapman University Dodge College of Film & Media Arts

"We're not a trade school," says Dean Bob Bassett. "We're focused on helping young people find jobs -- and that's the hardest thing." Students at the Orange, Calif.-based campus operate like they're at a miniature studio: The directors direct, the writers write, the producers produce, and they work with PR and advertising students taught by new faculty member Dawn Taubin, a former Warners marketing exec.

TUITION $19,600 per semester for undergraduates; $15,420-$20,680 for graduates, depending on the discipline

DEGREES B.A., BFA, M.A. and MFA

NOTABLE ALUMNI Ben York Jones (Like Crazy), Chris Marrs Piliero (director for the Black Keys' "Tighten Up" music video)

"Being a comparatively young film school, Dodge is starting to make a good showing out there in all facets of film and entertainment. It's been interesting how many people I'll run into and find out they went to Chapman as well. It puts you on the same team." -- Ben York Jones

23. Ringling College of Art and Design

Ringling's 4-year-old Digital Filmmaking program, where Werner Herzog teaches, just graduated its first class, and already they've got two Student Academy Award winners. At the Sarasota, Fla., campus, you direct commercials your first year, documentaries the second, narratives the third and a thesis your fourth. U.S. News and World Report called it America's Most Wired Campus, and digital animation is strong.

TUITION $16,140 per semester

DEGREES BFA in a range of disciplines, including computer animation, digital filmmaking, game design and photography

NOTABLE ALUMNI The school just graduated its first class last year.

"Ringling helped me transform from just a kid who liked playing with cameras into a true, narrative storyteller. It is too early to tell how much of a career impact it has had, but I'm only three months out of an undergrad film school and have had meetings with producers at MTV, IFC, AMC and Screen Gems." -- Recent graduate Jason Letkiewicz

24. Northwestern University

At Northwestern outside Chicago, you can study writing in America's No. 2 theater and improv town; study film and visual art in a world-class arts capital; do a directing-for-the-screen "module," which involves classes in cinematography, editing and postproduction work or directing. Then then you make your film.

TUITION $41,592

DEGREES B.A./B.S. in radio, television, film history, theory and production of film and media

NOTABLE ALUMNI Greg Berlanti (producer, Green Lantern), Zach Braff (Garden State)

25. Colorado Film School

In partnership with Regis University, the Denver school charges students as little as $7,000 to make 1,000 BFA movies a year that visiting teacher Rahmin Bahrani (Chop Shop) compares with Columbia's MFA movies. Effects auteur Douglas Trumbull (2001, The Tree of Life) is working to create a green-screen 3D film studio.

TUITION $28,000 for four years for Colorado residents; $58,000 for non-residents

DEGREES BFA, AAS, AGS and certificates in writing, directing, producing, acting, postproduction and cinematography

NOTABLE ALUMNI Aaron Kroger (Total Recall)