Hollins University Continues a Tradition of Talent

Since its inception in 1999, Virginia’s Hollins University’s Screenwriting and Film Studies master’s degree program has scored some major talent to teach its courses, including Oscar-winning Dutch moviemaker Marleen Gorris. The tradition continues this year with Mari Kornhauser, writer and co-producer of Zandalee, starring Nicolas Cage, and The Last Ride, with Mickey Rourke, who will be teaching Narrative Theory and Practice for Screenwriters. While Jan-Christopher Horak, acting director of the Moving Images Archives Program at UCLA, will be the professor of Film Analysis and Research.

The master’s program, offering both MA and MFA degrees that students usually complete over the course of five summers, fuses ingenuity with academia by incorporating courses in both screenwriting and film studies. Permanent Hollins faculty members team with those from inside the moviemaking industry as well as professors from major film studies programs around the world to teach both the screenwriting and film studies courses.

“We believe that combining the creative process of screenwriting with the academic study of film is absolutely essential in order to provide our screenwriting students with the necessary context within which they place their own work,” says program director Klaus Phillips, editor of New German Filmmakers. “Budding screenwriters will reap immense benefits from studying a wide range of films, from Ford to Fassbinder, and from Caligari to Cloverfield.”

The deadline for applications for the Summer 2008 term (June 16 – July 25) is February 15th.

Visit http://www.hollins.edu/grad/film/screenwriting.htm for more information.