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School of Film and Animation

Tehran Is Ours by HamideH Azimi '24 MFA (film and animation) was honored by CILECT as the recipient of the 2025 SCEDI Award (Standing Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) for Best Animation. The film, through a combination of 2D, 3D, and experimental animation, challenges the ongoing repression of women’s rights in Iran.

Forward-thinking faculty; curriculum that fuses technology, the arts, and design; and a legacy of priming students with a maker mentality helped RIT’s School of Film and Animation maintain its place on TheWrap’s list of Top 50 Film Schools of 2025.

Ricky Figueora taking over as the new director of RIT's School of Film and Animation headlines exciting promotions and additions to the College of Art and Design faculty.

Animation is most often viewed on a screen. But when animators break traditional rules and abandon the “almighty rectangle,” Christine Banna says artistic magic can happen.

The Character Mosaic Project is a recently revived initiative that aims to build a library of 3D characters — diverse in their ethnicities and backgrounds — that are open source for animators to seamlessly use as a broader range of subjects in their films. The project is led by Kevin Bauer, graduate director of the film and animation MFA program.

Having the right networking connections can make or break a career in the film industry. Thankfully for Marica Joseph, there are plenty of RIT alumni who she can learn from.

Accomplished alumni, creative technology research, and interdisciplinary program offerings set RIT’s School of Film and Animation apart from others on The Hollywood Reporter’s 2025 top film schools list. RIT was ranked number 22 this year, a leap ahead from the school’s rank in 2024.

Many employees of RIT City Art Space have used their experience working in the gallery to prepare for fulfilling careers in museums, community art centers, and project and event management.

Meghdad Asadilari, assistant professor in the School of Film and Animation, was awarded the 2025 ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum Faculty Grant.

RIT graduate Sebastian Nazario-Colon presented at the Cannes Film Festival. He says documentary filmmaking courses and the RIT in LA study away program paved the way to his success.

Carson Munn '26 has taken advantage of the endless resources available in RIT's School of Film and Animation, including well-equipped facilities, supportive faculty, and an opportunity to spend a semester studying in an entertainment epicenter, Los Angeles.

When RIT students create video games, they don’t just mail it in. A team of students recently won the Grand Prize at GameFest 2025 for developing Pelican Post. The game is about a pelican mailman delivering mail to a small town of unique characters.