Education Abroad

The experience of going abroad can be invaluable for you as a Cinema Studies major. Your firsthand experience abroad can help you gain new perspectives in areas such as production and screenwriting, while also providing opportunities to study and experience the film industry of your host country. CU-Boulder offers more than 90 programs throughout the world with various types of film courses. These programs offer credit that counts as if you had taken the courses in residence at the University of Colorado at Boulder; in some cases, also fulfilling specific Cinema Studies major and/or A&S core requirements. Depending on the program you select, you may spend a few weeks abroad, a few months abroad, or even a full academic year.
 
Early planning for education abroad is essential. Most Cinema Studies majors find that Junior year is the best time to study abroad, but you should talk with your advisor about your individual goals and graduation timeline to determine what might be best for you.
 
For further information and next steps, please visit the CU-Boulder Education Abroad Programs website at 


Global Seminar: Cinema & the City (Rome, Italy)

Summer 2025

Highlights

  • Join us for an info session on Thursday, November 7th at 5:00 in THTR Design Studio - C340 to learn more!
  • Spend part of your summer in one of the most iconic cities in cinema history!
  • Walk in the footsteps of famous films like Roman Holiday and Three Coins in the Fountain
  • See film locations and visit the famous Cinecitt脿, once the largest film studio in the World
  • See the ruins of Pompeii and its cinema representations!
  • The program will be offered every other summer (2025, 2027, 2029) and alternates with .

Approved for:

  • Cinema Studies Critical Studies elective
  • A&S Gen Ed: Arts & Humanities
  • Engineering Humanities/Social Sciences
  • CMCI Core: Humanities & Arts
  • International Affairs Off-Campus Experience
  • Sociology elective
  • Italian major elective

Course Description

Rome is one of the most iconic cities in cinema history, having been portrayed in countless films from different countries. This course will explore images of Rome in Italian and Hollywood films from the 1940s to contemporary cinema. We will investigate the ways in which the city is constructed and deconstructed by cinema in different contexts, from the post WWII neorealist classics to the new cinemas of the 1960s; from the obsession with ancient Rome (the 1950s 鈥渟word and sandal鈥 epics or 贬叠翱鈥檚 Rome) to Hollywood 鈥渁ction鈥 films staging impossible set-pieces in the center of the city. An important part of our emphasis (as in 鈥淐inema & the City: Paris) is to understand and interrogate the ways in which the cinema imagines鈥攐r filters鈥攖he city for the film spectator, and the ways in which the experience of the city in situ allows us to reflect on questions of representation, visuality, geography, gastronomy, culture, and people in its physical reality.

Movies include:

Roma, Citt脿 Aperta (Roberto Rosselini, 1945)

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)

Three Coins in the Fountain (Jean Negulesco, 1954)

Il Conformista (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)

Roma (Federico Fellini, 1972)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999)

Plus, sequence analyses from: Quo Vadis, The Last Days of Pompeii, Gladiator, The Godfather Part III, 贬叠翱鈥檚 Rome, Angels & Demons, Spectre, Mission Impossible III, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I, and many more.

Rome 2025 info

Global Seminar: Filmmaking Abroad: Acting & Directing (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Summer 2025

Highlights:

  • Join us for an info session on Thursday, November 7th at 5:00 in THTR Design Studio - C340 to learn more!
  • Earn major credit while spending three weeks in Edinburgh, Scotland, a city with a vibrant arts community
  • Get hands-on experience by participating in all aspects of a film shoot on location
  • Learn from professional filmmakers and visit film-specific sights in Scotland
  • Watch the final film from past program participants !

Approved for:

  • Production elective for the BA Production Track and BFA (Production)
  • Cinema Studies elective for the BA Critical Studies track
  • Theatre & Dance elective
  • Media Production Upper-Division elective credit
  • Creative Technology & Design focus elective credit
  • A&S Gen Ed: Arts & Humanities
  • CMCI Core: Humanities & The Arts
  • Engineering Humanities & Social Sciences credit

Course Description:

This class aims to advance the skills of both Actors and Filmmakers specifically in the production of location specific narrative video. The course is designed to take advantage of an environment that is unfamiliar, utilizing an arts community that is new to students. This course draws from different departments and encourages collaboration across the disciplines, teaching filmmakers how to direct actors and actors how to perform on camera.  Students will be asked to realize a short film production in an unfamiliar location and work as a team utilizing a culmination of techniques learned from your home programs to secure locations, cast actors, shoot, and edit a film in a foreign country. Students will then edit and present these works before returning to Colorado.

Students will be broken into teams of 3-4, taking on the roles of director, cinematographer and principal cast. Each team will be required to scout a location, cast the remaining actors, and film on location in Scotland.

Students will learn to work with colleagues from a different background, which will require students to interact with the host population and communicate ideas with them. Students will handle responsibilities on both sides of the camera to better understand the various job relationships and will help fulfill the production needs of the course. 

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