Requirements

1. An application submitted to the Graduate Film Certificate Program, containing a completed application form, transcript, and personal statement of interest in and qualifications for undertaking the Graduate Certificate, which can only be earned in conjunction with a film-focused master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, or approved final project and terminal graduate degree in a University of Massachusetts Amherst program.

2. Students must complete 15 credits of approved graduate film courses, selected from a list of courses to be determined by the Graduate Film Certificate Program, to include the following:
a. one course in introductory film theory (3 credits)
b. a minimum of two courses (six credits) taken outside their degree-granting department and college
c. a minimum of two courses (six credits) with an international and/or intercultural focus

3. Upon completion of coursework, certificate students submit an updated transcript and a written statement to the Graduate Film Certificate Program demonstrating the ways in which their coursework constitutes an integrated, interdisciplinary film studies concentration. If a student’s comprehensive exams are certificate-related, a written statement must be submitted to the Graduate Film Certificate Program.

4. The Graduate Film Certificate Program must approve film-oriented master’s theses or doctoral dissertations at the prospectus stage and upon filing the completed thesis or dissertation with the Graduate School, students must submit to the Graduate Film Certificate Program a copy of the abstract, table of contents, and signatory pages.

5. The Graduate Certificate will be awarded only upon completion of these requirements and by approval of the program’s Advisory Committee at the time students receive their terminal graduate degree.