Internships

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.

Internship Eligibility

To qualify for an internship for credit in the Film & Media Studies program, you must:

  • Be a declared Film major in good academic standing

  • Have a minimum 3.0 GPA

  • Have completed at least 60 units of credit

Important: Only 4 units of internship credit may be counted toward the 28 upper-division units required for the Film & Media major. A specific internship may only be taken once for credit.

Applications & Evaluations:

To proceed with an application for an internship for academic credit, you must submit the following documents to filmmediaugadvising@berkeley.eduno later than the first day of the semester or Summer Session C (Late submissions will not be accepted):

The advisor will forward your documents to the Internship Faculty Supervisor for review. Once approved, the advisor will enroll you in Film 197B for the appropriate number of units based on your internship hours.

Internship Supervisor Role

You must obtain a letter of invitation from your internship supervisor on the organization’s official letterhead. This letter should clearly outline:

  • Your responsibilities during the internship

  • The number of hours you will work each week

  • How the internship aligns with the organization’s activities and provides educational value

Note: At the end of the semester or session, the supervisor will also be required to submit a written evaluation of your performance.

Internship Hours/Credit 

Fall and Spring
During the academic year, the internship will be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 12 hours per week. 

3 hrs/week = 1 unit

6 hrs/week = 2 units

9 hrs/week = 3 units

12 hrs/week = 4 units

Summer
Please note that summer internship units will incur summer sessions fees. 

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

~5.5 hrs/week = 1 unit

~11 hrs/week = 2 units

~16 hrs/week = 3 units

~22.5 hrs/week = 4 units

Internship Guidelines 

  • Internships must be relevant to your academic training in Film & Media Studies and approved by the department.

  • Internships must be with an established commercial, non-profit, or educational organization.

  • The organization must provide a clear outline of your duties and their educational value.

  • Positions involving clerical, custodial, or routine paid labor are not eligible for credit.

  • All application materials must be submitted and approved by the start of the semester/session.

  • During the semester or summer, you will meet periodically with the Undergraduate Internship Faculty Advisor.

End of Internship Requirements 

To receive credit, you must submit the following documents to the Internship Faculty Supervisor:

1. A 5–8 page critical reflection paper analyzing your internship experience. This may include:

  • Insights gained about film and media from creative, intellectual, or political perspectives

  • Whether the internship met your expectations and why

  • Challenges faced, if any

  • How the internship influenced your future studies or career thinking

2. A final written evaluation of your performance from the Internship Supervisor.

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: 

     ● Communications Internship

     ● 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.