THR Ranks the Top 25 American Film Schools

Learning to become a filmmaker used to be much simpler: All you needed was a 16mm camera, a few scraps of film stock and an inspirational teacher. But these days, film schools are considered useless unless they offer state-of-the-art augmented reality labs, high-end digital Steadicams and at least one course taught by James Franco — all of which makes applying to these institutions more confusing than ever before.

To help, THR presents its sixth annual ranking of the 25 best U.S. film schools (and a list of 15 of the best foreign film schools). As always, the magazine assembled the list by consulting with academic experts, industry professionals and scores of film school alumni.

Reporting by Ashley Cullins, Rebecca Ford, Mia Galuppo, Borys Kit, Kendal McAlpin, Pamela McClintock, Brian Porreca, Tatiana Siegel and Rebecca Sun.

See the 2015 List The Top 25 Film Schools in the United States 2015

See the 2014 List The Top 25 Film Schools in the United States 2014

See the 2013 List The Top 25 Film Schools in the United States 2013