Film at Mason is a community of cinematic storytellers that fosters creativity, analysis, and diverse perspectives, anti-racist and professional practice, and socially conscious filmmaking. Half of Mason's film students identify as women. Some of our students are trans, non-binary, and gender variant. Half of our student filmmakers are artists of color.
Taj Kokayi's White Mirror follows a young Black game designer who comes face to face with covert racism after he’s transformed to look like a white man.
As a diverse program, Film at Mason supports and trains students in telling their stories and exploring the world as it is, not as it has been historically imagined in mainstream film. From the basic course Writing for the Moving Image (FAVS 280) to senior capstones like Advanced Visual Storytelling students learn the structure and craft of screenwriting that reflects and expands our world. In Documentary Filmmaking, Interactive Storytelling for Social Change, and Video Production for Social Change, students work with community organizations, express complex social issues, and build projects through the research of social scientists that value audience engagement.
Above: Film alum, Esraa Abo Oun, tells us about her experience at Mason.
Being inclusive and diverse as a program is about more than representation. In Film at Mason, we encourage our students to understand the financing of production and structures of our industry to help them move those stories forward. Our approach to business teaches students to read contracts, build budgets and schedules, and seek financing through required classes Business of Film and Video (FAVS 250) and Producing (FAVS 311). Several of our graduates have launched their own production and service companies as a result.
Our students are not afraid to tackle issues such as mental illness, gender-based violence, and disability. They feel competent enough to address some of the critical issues facing society and to use the language of cinema to connect that to an audience.
Sir follows a day in the life of Ty, a young transmasculine person, on a journey toward becoming his authentic self.