The School of Film at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was established in 2004 and it is the first public higher-education film school in Greece. Its creation as the fourth School of the Faculty of Fine Arts at A.U.Th. came to fill a significant gap in film education and to respond to a long-lasting request of both the film and academic community. According to its founding statute, the aim of the School is “to cultivate and promote film art in the context of a wider audiovisual education, through theoretical and applied tuition and research”.
The educational philosophy of the School combines practice with theory, while the five-year undergraduate curriculum covers eight artistic/applied areas (scriptwriting, film direction, production, sound and music, set and costume design, cinematography, editing, augmented/virtual/mixed reality) and one theoretical, that of the theory and history of cinema and television.
The degree of the School of Film is unified and it is based on a comprehensive cycle of courses of artistic and theoretical nature, while also including pedagogical courses.
The School of Film employs artists and film scholars, whose work is widely acclaimed, both at home and abroad, as evidenced by the distinctions of the faculty members (Fulbright scholarships, research funding programs, awards, foreign language and Greek books taught in domestic and foreign universities, participation in and collaborations with Greek and international festivals, awards at festivals, State Quality Awards and awards of the Hellenic Film Academy, etc.).
Thus far, the School of Film has trained young filmmakers capable of contributing to the upgrading of the national film production, as evidenced by the distinguished presence of student and graduate films in international and domestic festivals, as well as the successful presence of its graduates in the professional field in Greece and abroad.
Finally, thanks to the close contact of the School of Film with the film community, many distinguished Greek filmmakers have regularly taught, given lectures and masterclasses, while the School has had the honor to award honorary doctorates to Michalis Kakogianis, Pantelis Voulgaris and Costas Gavras.