Master of Film: Artistic Research in and through Cinema

What can cinema produce beyond representation? What forms of knowledge become possible when filmmaking itself becomes a mode of inquiry? 

The Master of Film: Artistic Research in and through Cinema at the Netherlands Film Academy is a two-year international programme for filmmakers and artists who want to interrogate, deepen and transform their practice through artistic research.

The programme understands cinema as a site of thinking, making and knowledge production. Here, artistic research does not sit alongside practice: it emerges through it. Students develop self-directed research in which questions of form, position, method, experimentation and communication are worked through cinematically.,

Rather than directing practice towards predetermined outcomes, the programme creates conditions for sustained inquiry, uncertainty and discovery. It asks what becomes possible when the moving image is treated not simply as a means of illustrating ideas, but as a way of encountering the world, producing relations and making other forms of knowledge perceptible.

Across two years, each student develops an individual research trajectory supported by peer exchange, workshops, seminars, consultations with artists and researchers, production facilities and an individual research budget. The programme combines the intimacy of an individual artistic inquiry with the critical and collective possibilities of study.

Who can apply
The programme welcomes moving image makers with a bachelor’s degree and substantial professional experience. Applicants may come from film, visual arts, digital media, performance or related practices. Applicants with a degree in another field may also apply if they can demonstrate a developed moving-image practice.

Applicants are generally expected to have at least four years of professional artistic practice and sufficient audiovisual experience to pursue an independent research trajectory. A portfolio of moving-image work forms an essential part of the application., 

Online information sessions
Tuesday November 10, 7–8:30pm CET / Tuesday 17 November 17, 1–2:30pm CET

During the sessions, Nduka Mntambo, Head of the Master of Film, will introduce the programme and its approach to artistic research, followed by information on admissions and a conversation with members of the programme team and current students. An information video is also available online.

Application deadline
Applications for the 2027–29 cohort close on January 12, 2027. Find more information about applying here.