City Film - The MFA in Film Program at CCNY

City Film - The MFA in Film Program at CCNY 2-year MFA in Film at CCNY offering Documentary & Fiction tracks in an affordable & accessible public university. Now accepting applications for Fall 2018!

APPLY NOW: http://city-film.org/admissions/ The M.F.A. program mentors a small, selective group of students to become the next generation of original voices in independent filmmaking. We foster the creation of compelling, daring, and visually stimulating short films in documentary or fiction. Ours is a hands-on program where students workshop their ideas in the field, directing their own short films and crewing on those of classmates. Students direct their thesis projects in the second year and also serve as Cinematographer, Editor or Producer on at least one other thesis production. Our students leave the program having completed professional, broadcast quality work. They are required to create a full distribution strategy for their thesis films that are launched into the festival circuit at Cityvisions, our annual film showcase held in June at The Director Guild of America Theater. Recent graduates have won student Oscars and Emmies, and their work has been selected for Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Moscow, Munich, Tribeca, Rotterdam, South By Southwest, and other premiere film festivals.

Meet Matt Lucerna! Matt is an NYC based filmmaker and freelance photographer/videographer. He has worked for nearly 5 ye...
05/21/2026

Meet Matt Lucerna! Matt is an NYC based filmmaker and freelance photographer/videographer. He has worked for nearly 5 years covering multiple projects and events ranging from short films, music videos, open mics, outdoor & studio photoshoots. As a filmmaker, Matt has worked various crew roles on set. The areas in which he specializes the most are writing, directing, & cinematography. While he has a strong passion for the fictional worlds of narrative storytelling, Matt is devoted to working on stories with social commentary on issues not often talked about or misrepresented in the industry.

“Stronger Than You Know” is a coming-of-age drama revolving around a young and naïve high school student named Dominic. Dominic has little self-esteem and tries to fit in with a group of students led by a bully named Ulysses, who manipulates and abuses Dominic for his
own entertainment. Dominic does very little to stand up to him. However, an unexpected incident makes Dominic see his bully in a much different light.

Meet Benjamin Hom! Benjamin is a writer, director, and editor from New York City. He studied film at Hunter College, ear...
05/21/2026

Meet Benjamin Hom! Benjamin is a writer, director, and editor from New York City. He studied film at Hunter College, earning an undergraduate degree in fiction. After some time as an elementary school teacher, Hom enrolled in City College to begin his Master of Fine Arts in nonfiction film. His debut documentary short film, Snake Mouth, will be screened at CityVisions in May of 2026. Hom hopes to continue teaching and begin making feature films in both documentary and fiction.

“Snake Mouth” synopsis: Fifty-five years ago, Tony Pang risked his life to escape mainland China by swimming across the South China Sea. He and two friends swam five hours in the pitch-black night from Guangzhou to Hong Kong in search of a better life. This tale has had an impact on his youngest son, Daniel, who has always wanted to share his favorite bedtime story with the rest of the world.

Meet Natalie Mahoney! Natalie is a multi-award winning creative from Staten Island, NY. Natalie received her B.A in TV/F...
05/21/2026

Meet Natalie Mahoney! Natalie is a multi-award winning creative from Staten Island, NY. Natalie received her B.A in TV/Film from DeSales University ‘24 and is grateful to be finishing her M.F.A from The City College of New York. She has experience in both filmmaking and helping young creatives conceive, construct, and produce their own projects. Natalie wants to be able to inspire and encourage others with her work, and watch others tell their own stories through the many mediums of the arts!

In “Meet Me at the End,” a teenage girl named Sawyer embarks on a relationship with another girl, Carys. Although everything seems to be going her way, she hides the relationship from her ignorant mother, worried she won’t love her for who she is. Sawyer confides in her friend Eli, but rather than finding support, he feigns
concern using faith to make her feel that she’ll be shunned by her mother. This leads to a deep conflict
between sexuality and faith.

Meet Sher Bautista! Filipino filmmaker Sher Bautista grew up as a third culture kid whose work centers on themes of iden...
05/21/2026

Meet Sher Bautista! Filipino filmmaker Sher Bautista grew up as a third culture kid whose work centers on themes of identity, memory, and migration. She co-produced the award-winning feature Delia and Sammy (CineFilipino 2017), which went on to screen at international festivals including Austin, All Lights India, Ortigia, and Hanoi. A Tropfest finalist for her short film Commune (2015), Sher also co-wrote the television series The Boston: A Kitchen Musical (2013). Aside from her film projects, she is also a published author having co-written the children’s book Tasha and Pierre (2019). She is currently completing her MFA in Film and developing her thesis project, Tales My Father Told.

In “Tales My Father Told,” Leon works as a dishwasher in a busy New York deli. His co-workers know very little about him besides the fact that he is never absent at work, is good at crossword puzzles, and is a dependable part of the crew. The highlight of Leon’s days are the early morning phone calls to his wife Angie, and daughter Audrine, whom he was forced to leave behind in the Philippines. Audrine, extremely saddened that Leon cannot make it home for her birthday, starts having nightmares, and insists on talking to her father more and more often. He tries to alleviate Audrine’s anxiety by making up bedtime stories about a dishwasher escaping monsters in New York and offers to buy her whatever gift she wants.
Audrine asks for a particular American Girl Doll which Leon finds out costs more than he can afford. With the help of his manager at work, Leon finds a way to make the extra cash needed to buy the gift, but later finds that life in the city doesn’t always work out the way we imagine.

Meet Dylan LaRay! Dylan LaRay is an award-winning writer, director, and actor based in New York City. As an actor, he is...
05/21/2026

Meet Dylan LaRay! Dylan LaRay is an award-winning writer, director, and actor based in New York City.
As an actor, he is best known for his critically acclaimed performance in the feature-length body horror film, Fang (2022), for which he received multiple accolades. He has accrued 100+ credits in plays, musicals, commercials, and he made his network episodic debut as a costar on HBO’s Task opposite Mark Ruffalo.
As a filmmaker, LaRay has explored a wide array of film genres from absurd horror and experimental comedies to uplifting documentaries and intimate dramas. As a q***r artist, his work often includes themes that challenge traditional social structures while examining
complex human stories that resist simple moral categorization. LaRay was the recipient of a BAFTA U.S. scholarship and the Ostrovsky Family Fund Award in honor of Chantal Akerman, both of which were used to produce his thesis film, Like Strangers. As of May
2026, he will hold an MFA in Film from the City College of New York and a BA in Theatre Arts & Italian Studies from the University of Arizona.

In his thesis film, “Like Strangers,” Travis bartends at a local dive in Brooklyn where he knows everybody and everybody knows him. He’s a surly man of few words who even holds his dearest friends at arm’s length. This is how Travis protects himself. But one day, a young woman walks into his bar searching for the parent who abandoned her and it forces Travis to reconcile with his past and the many years he’s spent isolating himself from the people he loves.

Meet Jason McCluskey! Jason is a director, cinematographer, and editor from Staten Island, NY. He received his B.S in Ci...
05/21/2026

Meet Jason McCluskey! Jason is a director, cinematographer, and editor from Staten Island, NY. He received his B.S in Cinema, Television and Media Production at Kutztown University and has moved forward to get his MFA in Filmmaking at the City College of New York. Jason has been part of many award-winning films working as a cinematographer and editor. He has made a handful of his own films underneath his production company ‘McCinema Films’ and has experience also helping others in writing, directing, acting and editing. He wants to entertain and make creative work flourish in all that he produces.

In “No One Carbs Alone,” a young man named Jason has been a Type 1 Diabetic for 19 years. Although he’s received support from his family, he knows that none of them can understand what he’s endured to live a normal life with his disability. Then he meets Conor, another Type 1 Diabetic. Despite Conor’s story with diabetes differing from Jason’s, the two are able to help each other live with diabetes.

Meet Wen Chi! Wen Chi OLCEL is an author, translator, educator, and filmmaker born and raised in Taiwan, and currently b...
05/21/2026

Meet Wen Chi! Wen Chi OLCEL is an author, translator, educator, and filmmaker born and raised in Taiwan, and currently based in New York. She has studied and worked internationally, including in New York and across the Nordic region, China, and Turkey. She is the author of several books of nonfiction and literary translations. A recipient of the 2025 Overseas Sinophone Author Award for Prose, she made her cinematic fiction debut with the short film Dear Upstairs Neighbor, which received festival nominations and an Honorable Mention. Before transitioning to filmmaking, she taught Asian literature and cinema for nearly a decade at Middle East Technical University. Her work across literature and film explores memory and the emotional textures of everyday life.

“About Kim” synopsis: At 90 years old, KJ Kim has lived many lives. He grew up in colonial Korea, became a respected music critic in Seoul, spent a decade in Chicago, and eventually reinvented himself as a fashion designer in New York City. For Kim, each chapter was something to master before moving toward the next creative pursuit. Now living in Queens, Kim’s days follow a quieter rhythm. Surrounded by a chosen family of Tai Chi friends, he has spent his later years transforming the precision of fashion into painting, an artistic practice he began at age 86.
As Kim approaches his 90th birthday, the past unexpectedly returns. His estranged daughter travels from Chicago to reconnect after 30 years of silence. As she enters the life Kim has carefully built, he must confront the distance between the artist he became and the father he once was. About Kim is a meditative portrait of reinvention, aging, and the possibility of connection late in life.

Meet Dylan Wolf Gantz! Dylan is a writer, filmmaker, and educator based in the Lower East Side. His film Citta Dei Sogni...
05/21/2026

Meet Dylan Wolf Gantz! Dylan is a writer, filmmaker, and educator based in the Lower East Side. His film Citta Dei Sognii won ‘Outstanding Film’ at SVA’s Dusty Awards and later was accepted into The Short Film Corner at Cannes. Currently, Dylan is developing a feature film titled The Under starring actress Charee Fraser. Dylan also teaches filmmaking at Wagner Middle School and is beloved by his students. He says that his films serve to love and to honor his family, his friends, and all those who shaped him into the artist that he is today.

His film, “Liquor Store,” is about Don, a 30-something die-hard Mets fan who works behind the counter of a classic New York liquor joint on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His whole purpose in life is to score a ticket to Game 7 of the World Series. He has exhausted all of his options, even calling his ex-girlfriend for a ticket, but no go. Morty, the grumpy yet lovable curmudgeon who manages the store, chews Don out for caring so much about a ball game. Morty tells Don that he’s gonna meet someone who makes him see things differently. Don dismisses this until the stunning, artsy Nina walks in. Bang. Pow. Sparks fly. Nina and Don dig each other and Don asks her out. She’s only free tonight, but tonight is Game 7. What’s Don gonna do?

Meet Sam Brody! Sam is a documentary filmmaker from New York. He received his undergraduate degree in Film from the Sava...
05/21/2026

Meet Sam Brody! Sam is a documentary filmmaker from New York. He received his undergraduate degree in Film from the Savannah College of Art & Design. After graduating, he did some production assistant work and post-production assistant editing work. He has completed the Manhattan Edit Workshop. Sam is currently working towards his MFA at the City College of New York and is excited to share his thesis film, “Notes from a Chess Hustler.”

“Notes from a Chess Hustler” is about Owen, a 55 year old chess hustler, who is a veteran of the Union Square chess circuit. Life has not always been kind to him - struggling with poverty and living an existence on the margins. We join Owen, as he visits his old neighborhood growing up in Spanish Harlem to the day to day struggles down in Union to visiting his distant son in the Bronx. Throughout we see the many lives of Owen. “Notes from a Chess Hustler” is a poetic odyssey across old school New York. It’s about how even though life and oppressive circumstances can be cruel, the joy of the game still abounds.

Meet Will Carter! is a Maine-born, New York-based writer, filmmaker, and photographer. His play Barabbas premiered at T...
05/14/2026

Meet Will Carter! is a Maine-born, New York-based writer, filmmaker, and photographer. His play Barabbas premiered at Theater for The New City in 2019, and his film Zapatos, which he wrote and co-directed, was an official selection at the HBO Latino Film Festival and the San Francisco Latino Film Festival. He’s also contributed essays and translations to the Ezra Journal of Translation.

His film, “Lost and Gone,” intercuts two narratives as a way to explore the instability and malleability of memory. The first story is set in the mid 1990s and follows a young boy and his mother as they share an idyllic day on the Maine coast. Unbeknownst to the young boy, Mom is on the verge of making a decision that would forever change their lives. The second story, set in present day, begins with a young man, Aaron, surprising his parents at their home. They share an awkward meal of leftovers and the day at the beach is evoked as one of Aaron’s cherished childhood memories. His mother, tense in the presence of her husband, claims to have no memory of this outing. As they clean up after the meal, Aaron discovers an object from this fateful day, suggesting that his mother may remember more than she’s letting on.

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