Vassar was one of the first liberal arts colleges to create a broad and substantive film major.

The Film Department is international in its screen studies scope, stressing a diverse canon ranging from silent films to television to online streaming content. The film major grounds our students in film history and theory and offers seminar courses in fiction and non-fiction production, as well as screenwriting for shorts or feature films. We specialize in integration: integrating film studies and filmmaking; teaching film and television; and offering interdisciplinary approaches to cinema’s wide-ranging cultural influence.

Events

News

Pictured: Carl Elsaesser. Person holding an old fashion camera to their eye while standing outside.

Carl Elsaesser, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Film, was awarded a 2026 Creative Capital Award for his feature-length, untitled film project that uses footage from the past decade to shape a coming-of-age narrative. Blending video diaries, ethnography and fiction, Carl’s film follows Ellis, a queer boy documenting his family’s frustrations and emerging sense of self.

Pictured: Carl Elsaesser. Person holding an old fashion camera to their eye while standing outside.

Carl Elsaesser, a member of Vassar’s Film Department faculty, has been named a 2026 Creative Capital Award recipient, part of Creative Capital’s national awards supporting new, ambitious work across artistic disciplines.