Overview & Requirements:
The Film & Media Department Internship program is designed to give advanced film majors the opportunity to extend their film and media studies into the world of professional media production, distribution, exhibition and education with supervised internships in approved companies and organizations. Students can locate and design their own external internships with such organizations based on their academic or professional interests. The Film & Media Department also provides periodically updated listings of possible internships with approved film and media related organizations and companies.
To be eligible to do an external internship that relates to your film and media studies for course credit, you must be a declared film major in good standing with a 3.0 GPA and have completed 60 units of credit. Only 4-units of internship units may be counted towards the 28 upper-division unit requirement for the Film & Media major. Please note that the same internship may only be taken once for credit.
The deadline to submit all internship material is the first day of classes.
Fall & Spring
During the academic year, the internship will be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 12 hours per week. (3hr = 1 unit, 6hr=2 units, 9hr = 3 units, 12hr= 4 units).
Summer
During the summer 8-week term, the internship will be a minimum of 5.5 hours per week and a maximum of 22.5 hours per week (approximately 5.5hr = 1 unit, 11hr = 2 units, 16hr = 3 units, 22.5 =4 units).
Applications & Evaluations:
To apply, you must fill out an Internship Agreement from the Film & Media Department undergraduate office and meet with the undergraduate faculty advisor.
- Internships must be approved by the department based upon their relevance to the student’s academic training in Film & Media. Approved internships must be connected to an established commercial, non-profit or educational organization and students should provide information about what the organization does.
- Students must receive a letter of invitation from the internship supervisor on organization letterhead outlining in detail, the activities and responsibilities of the internship and hours of work per week. The letter must show that the activities are related to the actual work of the organization and have educational value. Secretarial receptionist, custodial work and other forms of normally paid labor, are not eligible for college credit.
- All application materials must be received and approved by the start of the semester of the internship.
- Students will meet with the Undergraduate faculty advisor periodically throughout the semester.
Internship Evaluation:
At the end of the internship, you must write a 5 to 8-page critical reflection on you internship experience. Some areas the paper might address: what you learned from the internship about film & media creatively, intellectually, politically and how it relates your film studies. Did the internship meet your expectations? If not, what were the problems? Did you get to do the work that was promised? How did the internship impact your thinking about film & media going forward?
A final written evaluation of the quality and effort your work from the internship supervisor is also required and must accompany the final paper.
Internships with San Francisco Cinematheque
Founded in 1961, San Francisco Cinematheque is a non-profit media arts presenter dedicated to the cultivation of the international field of non-commercial artist-made cinema through curated exhibitions (presented publicly and online), an annual film festival, through the creation of publications and online resources documenting the field, and by maintaining a publicly accessible research archive. Through our work San Francisco Cinematheque inspires aesthetic dialog among artists, stimulates critical discourse around the field and encourages appreciation of artist-made cinema across the broader cultural landscape. For complete information on our programming and work, please see sfcinematheque.org
Available internships include:
● Curatorial/Film Festival Internship
● Archives/Special Collections Internship
GET INVOLVED! San Francisco Cinematheque’s internship program has always been, and continues to be vital to our success and vibrancy within the Bay Area’s cultural landscape and to our international position. Our internships allow participants to develop professional-level responsibilities, receive training and guidance from our knowledgeable staff, and strengthen the capacity of a high-impact, low-resource non-profit arts organization. Interns should be interested in working in a non-profit arts environment and possess strong communication and computer skills. An interest in avant-garde and experimental media is preferred, but not required.
In seeking interns, we aspire to:
- provide opportunities for arts administrative and curatorial training within a small non-profit media arts organization
- provide a comprehensive understanding of Cinematheque’s administrative and curatorial initiatives
- encourage a passion for our mission via engagement with the wealth of Cinematheque’s cultural resources, including our public screenings and online exhibitions; annual film festival; paper archive and publications; DVD, VHS and online film collections as well as the vibrant community of artists, enthusiasts and organizations who support us.
All internships are unpaid and require a minimum of 5–7 hours per week and approximately a 4–6 month commitment (unless otherwise indicated). We are able to give course credit for internships through many educational institutions but it is not required that applicants be pursuing course credit to intern with Cinematheque.
To apply for an internship, please submit a cover letter and resume to sfc@sfcinematheque.org
Please include the name of the internship in the subject line.