Artistic Research in and through Cinema MA programme

The Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam invites applications for its unique MA programme Artistic Research in and through Cinema.

This practice-driven Master Artistic Research in and through Cinema is a unique two-year international course for a select group of filmmakers and artists with several years of professional experience under their belt. They are offered time, space, professional mentoring and a budget to research and experiment in an inspiring, diverse and international research environment with like-minded practitioners.

Artistic Research in and through Cinema
Our focus on artistic research in and through cinema sets it apart from other film programmes, both in film or art schools and in universities.

We define artistic research as an open-ended trajectory in which thinking and making are one, and which privileges questions over answers, process over product, experimentation over mere execution and long-term effects over short term gain. Artistic research is neither a discipline nor a methodology. Instead, it’s a state of mind, a mentality or an attitude.

“Artistic research in and through cinema” means thinking through images and sounds. It means starting from the practice, knowledge and perspectives of filmmaking, and using its accompanying concepts and language.

Our view on education
We believe that education is about creating conditions of possibility. It is about creating a framework in which students (or “researchers” as we prefer to call them) are given the space to shape their own development. This framework requires a focus on process rather than product, a non-hierarchical relation between teachers and researchers, an understanding of subjectivity as driving force, and an emphasis on the group as a context of support rather than competition.

Curriculum
The 2-year full-time, English spoken MA-programme (120 EC) is divided into 4 semesters that each have their own focus. Together they create an ongoing research cycle.

The curriculum is made up of workshops that take your research interests as its material to work with. All workshops combine practice and reflection and are taught or moderated by filmmakers and artists whose own practice can itself be described as invested with an artistic research ethos. Aside from these workshops, there are regular inspiring public lectures by filmmakers, artists, philosophers or scientists, related to the theme of the semester.

Peer group
Every year we select no more than ten researchers on the basis of their cv, portfolio and research interests, aiming to create a group that is inclusive in terms of gender, race, nationality, origin and professional or artistic background. Because of its creative level and its diversity, the group will provide a stimulating and supportive environment for all.

Support structure
You will be supported throughout your research process by a team of mentors, who will mentor and tutor you both individually and collectively in small research groups. At the end of the first year you’re stimulated to find external advisors who can support your research in a more specific or in-depth way. All mentors and most, if not all external advisors are artist-researchers themselves. 

Budget
You will have a research budget to your disposal of around EUR 10,000, which you can use to pay for your research and experimentation expenses, like travel, festival visits, fees for people you work with—including your external advisors—rental of equipment (if the equipment is not available at the school), et cetera. Part of the budget is kept aside to pay for the concluding public presentation of your research during the Artistic Research Week at the end of the second year in the EYE Film Museum in Amsterdam.

For more information visit our website or join or information evening on November 21, 2018 to talk to staff, mentors and of course current and alumni researchers.