News
Film and Animation MFA
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November 10, 2025
Grad's thesis film educates about women's rights issues
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.
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October 30, 2025
‘TheWrap’ recognizes RIT as one of the nation’s top film schools
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.
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September 24, 2025
New School of Film and Animation director, faculty roles for 2025-26
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.
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September 12, 2025
Experimental animators bring new dimension to musical performance
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.
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September 9, 2025
RIT project increases representation in animated films
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.
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July 30, 2025
‘The Hollywood Reporter’ names RIT as a top film school in the U.S. for second year
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.
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May 14, 2025
‘Jumbo’, Southeast Asia’s Highest-Grossing Animated Film, Wants To Be A “Movement” Not Just A Movie
Ryan Adriandhy '19 MFA (film and animation) speaks to Deadline about his directorial debut for the movie Jumbo, which features a boy attempting to stage a play in a local talent show after feeling underestimated by his peers.
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April 21, 2025
Breaking the frame: Radical Cinema course pushes filmmaking limits
The School of Film and Animation's Radical Cinema Workshop class gives students an opportunity to focus on experimental and alternative filmmaking methods.
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April 3, 2025
VFX Schools Adapt to Capture Industry Shift to VP and AI
Flip Phillips, professor in the School of Film and Animation, and Philip Szrama, assistant professor in the School of Design, speak to VFX Voice about new AI tech used for virtual production.
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March 27, 2025
RIT’s School of Film and Animation continues to rise in rankings
Student’s access to state-of-the-art facilities and software, impressive faculty with industry experience, and a wealth of opportunities for hands-on learning before graduation has earned RIT’s School of Film and Animation (SOFA) more recognition as one of the top animation schools in the nation.
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March 19, 2025
RIT ranked a top-10 university for game designers and developers
RIT’s game design and development program was ranked sixth at the undergraduate level and 10th at the graduate level in new international rankings from The Princeton Review. -
January 16, 2025
Film student captures major award from Directors Guild of America
Film and animation MFA student Gabriel Ponte-Fleary received the Jury Award for Best Documentary (East Region) for his emotional documentary about the faith and hardships of a Nicaraguan family who migrated to the U.S.