The Designated Emphasis in Film Studies provides curricular and research resources for UC Berkeley PhD students who wish to pursue advanced work in film and media studies within their primary doctoral field. The program brings together faculty and students from departments across campus and formally recognizes this interdisciplinary training as part of the doctoral degree.
The Designated Emphasis is not a separate degree. Students complete its requirements in addition to the requirements of their home doctoral program. Completing a Designated Emphasis does not extend the normative time established for the student’s home program.
Eligibility and Admission
UC Berkeley PhD students whose primary doctoral program is outside the Department of Film & Media may apply. Applicants must be in good academic standing and must have completed, or be currently enrolled in, either FILM 200 or FILM 201 at the time of application.
Students must be admitted to the Designated Emphasis before taking the Qualifying Examination. All required Designated Emphasis coursework must also be completed before the Qualifying Examination.
After a student is admitted, the GSAO in Film & Media will submit the Acad Plan eForm to add the Designated Emphasis in Film Studies to the student’s academic record.
Requirements for the Designated Emphasis
Students must complete all of the following requirements.
Coursework
Students must complete a minimum of three graduate seminars at UC Berkeley. Independent study courses may not be used to satisfy the coursework requirement. All required coursework must be completed before the Qualifying Examination.
- FILM 200: Graduate Film Theory Seminar. Examines major historical and contemporary approaches to film and media theory. Specific topics, readings, and instructors vary by semester.
- FILM 201: Graduate Film Historiography. Examines the theories, methods, and practices of film and media history and introduces students to historically oriented research. Specific topics, readings, and instructors vary by semester.
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One additional graduate seminar. Students may complete FILM 240: Graduate Topics in Film or another graduate seminar cross-listed with FILM. FILM 240 is a variable-topic seminar addressing specialized areas of film and media studies. Topics and instructors vary by semester.
Students should consult the Berkeley Class Schedule for current course offerings and descriptions. Course availability and scheduling may vary by term.
Qualifying Examination
At least one faculty member of the Film Studies Designated Emphasis Graduate Group must serve on the student’s Qualifying Examination committee.
The Qualifying Examination must include film studies as one of the student’s examination subject areas.
The committee must also satisfy the committee requirements of the student’s home doctoral program and the Graduate Division. The Film Studies DE faculty member may serve in any committee role for which the faculty member is eligible under those requirements.
Dissertation
At least one faculty member of the Film Studies Designated Emphasis Graduate Group must serve on the student’s dissertation committee.
The dissertation must incorporate substantive research in film studies and contribute to the study of film or moving-image media.
Advancement to Candidacy and Degree Completion
When the student applies to advance to candidacy, the advancement application must be approved by the Head Graduate Adviser for the Designated Emphasis. This approval confirms that:
- an appropriate Film Studies DE faculty representative served on the Qualifying Examination committee;
- the student was examined in film studies; and
- an appropriate Film Studies DE faculty representative serves on the dissertation committee.
Before filing for the degree, students should review their Academic Progress Report (APR) in CalCentral to confirm that their Film Studies Designated Emphasis coursework is accurately reflected. Students should contact the Film Studies DE Graduate Adviser at rfahgradadvising@berkeley.edu if any required coursework appears to be missing or incorrect. The Film Studies DE will verify completion of all DE requirements as part of the degree completion process.
Students must list the Designated Emphasis in Film Studies on both the title page and abstract of the dissertation, following the formatting requirements published by the Graduate Division.
Upon successful completion of the PhD and all Designated Emphasis requirements, the Designated Emphasis will appear on the student’s transcript and diploma as:
PhD in [major] with a Designated Emphasis in Film Studies
Applying for the Designated Emphasis
Applications are accepted twice each year for admission in the following semester.
- April 1 for admission in the following fall semester
- November 1 for admission in the following spring semester
Applicants must complete the Film Studies Designated Emphasis Application and provide the following materials:
- A one-page statement describing the applicant’s research interests, preparation in film and media studies, and reasons for pursuing the Designated Emphasis
- A writing sample of no more than 25 pages, preferably related to film or media studies
- A current unofficial UC Berkeley transcript
- One letter of recommendation from a faculty member in the applicant’s home department
Applicants should follow the instructions in the application form for submitting the required materials and faculty recommendation.
Applicants are normally notified of the decision within approximately one month after the application deadline.
Questions may be directed to the Film Studies Designated Emphasis Graduate Adviser at rfahgradadvising@berkeley.edu.
Film Studies Designated Emphasis Faculty
The Designated Emphasis in Film Studies is administered by an interdisciplinary Graduate Group of UC Berkeley Academic Senate faculty.
Jinsoo An
Ph.D., UCLA; Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures; Korea Foundation Chancellor’s Chair in Korean Language & Culture
Professor An studies modern Korean film and visual culture, with particular attention to aesthetics, politics, memory, colonialism, war, modernization, film censorship, and South Korean cinema.
Nicholas Baer
Ph.D., UC Berkeley; Associate Professor of Film & Media and German
Professor Baer’s research examines film and digital media in relation to aesthetics, critical theory, and the philosophy of history. His research and teaching interests include film theory and historiography, the Frankfurt School, media theory and archaeology, the philosophy of technology, and psychoanalysis.
Weihong Bao
Ph.D., University of Chicago; Associate Professor of Film & Media; Pamela P. Fong and Family Distinguished Chair in China Studies
Professor Bao’s research and teaching interests include comparative media history and theory, media and environment, early cinema, war and modernity, affect theory, propaganda theory and practice, and Chinese-language cinema.
Rizvana Bradley
Ph.D., Duke University; Associate Professor of Film & Media; Affiliated Faculty in History of Art and the Center for Race and Gender
Professor Bradley’s research includes aesthetic theory, Black studies, contemporary art, film and media theory, critical theory, and race and the philosophy of media. She is the author of Anteaesthetics: Black Aesthesis and the Critique of Form.
Abigail De Kosnik
Ph.D., Northwestern University; Professor in the Berkeley Center for New Media and the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance StudiesProfessor De Kosnik researches digital media, performance, fandom, archives, piracy, and cultural memory. Her work also examines how race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality, and transnationalism intersect with media and technology.
Jacob Gaboury
Ph.D., New York University; Associate Professor of Film & Media
Professor Gaboury studies the history and theory of digital media, with particular emphasis on computer graphics and contemporary visual culture. His research interests include media archaeology, the history of technology, science and technology studies, queer theory, and new media.
Deniz Göktürk
Dr. phil., Free University of Berlin; Professor of German; Affiliated Faculty in Film & Media
Professor Göktürk’s research interests include German literature and cinema, transnational cinema, migration and globalization, urban imaginaries, intermediality, translation, and Turkish studies.
Anne Nesbet
Ph.D., UC Berkeley; Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Film & Media
Professor Nesbet’s research interests include early Soviet culture, Sergei Eisenstein, silent film, Soviet cinema, German Democratic Republic history and culture, and children’s literature.
Greg Niemeyer
MFA, Stanford University; Professor of Art Practice
Professor Niemeyer is a digital and data-driven artist whose work uses large datasets and data streams to create visual and sonic experiences. His research and creative interests include digital media installations, photography, data science, new technologies, and video games.
Daniel Cuong O’Neill
Ph.D., Yale University; Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Professor O’Neill studies Japanese literature and material culture, East Asian media and cinema, environmental humanities, and media theory. His research interests also include documentary cinema, photography, animation, ecocriticism, and the media history of the March 2011 disasters in Japan.
Miryam Sas
Ph.D., Yale University; Professor of Comparative Literature and Film & Media
Professor Sas’s research interests include Japanese literature, film, theater, and dance; twentieth-century avant-garde and experimental arts; media theory; contemporary art; critical theory; gender theory; and memory studies.
Rhiannon Noel Welch
Ph.D., UC Berkeley; Associate Professor of Italian Studies; Giovanni and Ruth Elizabeth Cecchetti Chair of Italian Literature; Affiliated Faculty in Film & Media
Professor Welch studies modern Italian literature, film, and critical theory, with particular emphasis on race, coloniality, and biopolitics. Her research also addresses migration and diaspora, ecology and climate change, and the continuing effects of colonial histories.
Kristen Whissel
Ph.D., Brown University; Professor of Film & Media; Class of 1932 Chair
Professor Whissel’s research interests include silent American cinema, contemporary and digital cinema, stereoscopic 3D media, visual effects, technological change, modernity, globalization, and cinema and the environment.
Damon Young
Ph.D., UC Berkeley; Associate Professor of French and Film & Media
Professor Young researches film and media studies, critical theory, and French. His work examines how literary, cinematic, and digital media shape subjectivity, identity, and desire, with additional interests in global art cinema and gender and sexuality studies.