Stud­ies

In addi­tion to teach­ing the craft of film­mak­ing, the DFFB pri­ori­tis­es the devel­op­ment of each student’s indi­vid­ual cre­ative voice as well as practical—and intensive—creative col­lab­o­ra­tion.

The DFFB offers five full-time pro­grammes of study (also known as spe­cial­i­sa­tions): Screen­writ­ing, Cin­e­matog­ra­phy, Direct­ing, Pro­duc­ing and Edit­ing & Sound.

The required course­work and the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion are com­pa­ra­ble to those of the fine arts or arts and sci­ences pro­grammes of Ger­man state uni­ver­si­ties. The DFFB, how­ev­er, does not offer a master’s or bachelor’s degree.

The stud­ies of Cin­e­matog­ra­phy, Direct­ing, Pro­duc­ing, and Edit­ing & Sound stu­dents end with the pro­duc­tion and com­ple­tion of a grad­u­a­tion film. The stud­ies of screen­writ­ing stu­dents end with the com­ple­tion of a grad­u­a­tion screen­play. All grad­u­ates receive a diplo­ma detail­ing their achieve­ments and the films on which they worked dur­ing their stud­ies.

In addi­tion to learn­ing the prac­ti­cal craft of film­mak­ing, stu­dents con­tin­u­ous­ly deep­en their under­stand­ing of film his­to­ry as well as of the eco­nom­ic and tech­ni­cal pro­duc­tion con­di­tions of the film and tele­vi­sion indus­tries. Stu­dents are also taught aes­thet­ic and for­mal meth­ods of expres­sion to help them devel­op a cre­ative means of self-expres­sion, which inte­grates both clas­si­cal and new nar­ra­tive forms. For more than 50 years, the DFFB has been offer­ing young tal­ents an ener­getic, pro­duc­tive, and free-spir­it­ed envi­ron­ment in which to learn the skills and cre­ativ­i­ty need­ed to mas­ter the var­i­ous ele­ments of pro­fes­sion­al film­mak­ing: sto­ry devel­op­ment and screen­writ­ing, direct­ing, cin­e­matog­ra­phy, pro­duc­ing, and edit­ing and sound.