AT HARVARD
UNIVERSITY

OVERVIEW

The New York Film Academy is proud to bring our film school, acting school and animation school back to Harvard in summer of 2009 to conduct our internationally acclaimed workshops. Harvard is a prestigious Ivy League university, perhaps the most famous learning institution in the world.

Harvard is located in the charming, dynamic city of Cambridge, just minutes away from Boston, the "capital" of New England. The University's roots in Cambridge are widespread, charging the city with a unique and intellectually invigorating atmosphere. In this environment, the film, acting and animation student is challenged to achieve at the highest level. With picturesque scenery and an eclectic mix of characters throughout the city, inspiration is abound. From the beautiful campus to the famed Charles River and throughout the bustling city of Boston; the experience is one to be treasured.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harvard University, founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986. Six presidents of the United States—including John Quincy Adams, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy—graduated from Harvard. Its faculty have produced more than 30 Pulitzer Prize winners and 30 Nobel Laureates.

New York Film Academy filmmaking, acting and animation workshops will be held in Memorial Hall (1878), a Ruskinian Gothic memorial to Harvard's Union casualties from the Civil War. This majestic structure is conveniently located to Harvard Square's historical, commercial, and academic resources.

Summer Film Academy students thus enjoy studying in a milieu of academic and creative activity. The learning environment is underscored by its remarkable architecture. Historic and modern landmarks fill the environs of the Old Yard, and trees and sculptures dot the courtyards. The campus provides hundreds of unique spaces for students to work on their scripts or simply to relax. The setting, the beautiful New England summer weather, and the abundance of museums, lectures, concerts, and readings all contribute to the students' film experience.

All workshops are solely owned and operated by the New York Film Academy and are not affiliated with Harvard University.

CAMBRIDGE AND BOSTON

Cambridge and Boston offer aspiring filmmakers an enormous variety of locations for making their films. They may want to capture the romantic image of the Harvard Crew rowing down the Charles River, or the site of Paul Revere's historic ride, or the bustling market of Fanueil Hall. Nearby Walden Pond will inspire visiting filmmakers, as it inspired Thoreau more than 150 years ago.

A hi-tech, cultured city, Cambridge is also a town in love with movies. Students can view classics, as well as the most recent independent films, at such cinemas as the trend-setting Brattle Theater in Harvard Square.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Students in the 3 or 6-week Filmmaking camps will shoot on 16mm film with Arriflex-S cameras. The 6-week Filmmaking Students will also learn and use portable Lowel lighting packages. The Digital Filmmaking camp and One-Week Camps will shoot with digital cameras on DV tape. In both programs students edit digitally using Final Cut Pro on Apple computers. The equipment the New York Film Academy students use is comparable to that of the leading degree programs in the United States.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Students in the New York Film Academy summer programs at Harvard will have access to Harvard's extraordinary athletic facilities. There are also an enormous variety of museums in the area, from Harvard's Fogg Art Museum to the Ware Collection of Glass Flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Cambridge itself is a vibrant college town: dozens of restaurants, cafés, bookstores, ice cream shops, and pizza parlors encircle the university. One can find almost anything in the city, from independent record and comic book stores to antique stores and clothing boutiques.

Theatrical productions are held in Cambridge throughout the summer. Students should visit the American Repertory Theatre (ART). Finally, students can enjoy excursions to Boston, which is located a short twenty-minute train ride away.

HOUSING

The Academy has made arrangements for interested students to stay Harvard University Dormitories. Students are not required to reside at the dormitories in order to attend the workshop. For more information on housing please click here.