Matthew Weiner's (Partly) Student-Made Film

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Matt Weiner

USC alum Matthew Weiner went back to school last month, but not as a student. He went to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem to make his romantic dramedy You Are Here (starring Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis and Amy Poehler) using two of the school's soundstages and some of its considerable talent. "What an amazing place!" says Weiner. "We had a lot of students and recent alumni working on it. A very impressive place."

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PHOTOS: THR's Top 25 Film Schools List Revealed

UNCSA is impressive enough to land on THR's list of the world's most eminent film schools last year. On this year's 25 Top Film Schools list, revealed July 25, an influx of prestigious foreign schools helped bump UNCSA to the lesser yet reputable list of 10 Film Schools to Watch. Here are the other contenders on that list, compiled by THR editors and industry insiders:

Stanford University

An elite, 16-student documentary program with a major new facility opening in 2015.

Syracuse University

A solid program with an international focus: About half of junior film students study at Prague's famous FAMU (No. 11 on the Top 25 Film Schools list) and other European schools.

L'Ecole de la Cite

This fall, Luc Besson opens his new film school near Paris. Free tuition and less snooty than France's most celebrated school, La Femis (No. 6 on THR's list).

Ringling College of Art and Design

Werner Herzog and Ed Burns have taught in the Sarasota, Fla. school's digital program.

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Columbia College Hollywood

An L.A. school that now collaborates with Beijing Film Academy (No. 3 on the Top 25 list). By 2017, 20 percent of CCH's 350 students could be from BFA.

Boston University

200 students a year get connected in its L.A. program.

Colorado Film School

The Denver school just received a $100,000 grant for the virtual film-budgeting game tSys, which teaches students business skills crucial to getting films made.

Savannah College of Art and Design

SCAD, the pride of Savannah, Ga., has been a top-10 Student Academy Award winner for seven years, and 40,000 attend the Savannah Film Festival. SCAD's star is rising.

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Cine Institute

Haiti's only film school, in Jacmel, isn't rich -- except in stories.