Cornell University Registrar

Program Description

The Film Minor provides students with a fundamental understanding of the formal, industrial, aesthetic, political, spiritual, and rhetorical aspects of cinema and media from the 19th century to the present. Through elective courses in cinema and media, students may focus on national cinemas, genres or modes (narrative cinema, for example, or personal film), or critical issues (such as melodrama, or media theory). Students may, in addition, pursue some work in film and digital production, particularly through courses in animation.

Department of Performing and Media Arts Minors

The Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA) offers four minors. In addition, the Department administers the interdisciplinary Media Studies minor. The minors are open to all undergraduate students in the university, including those outside the College of Arts & Sciences. To declare a minor, you will need to contact pma-dus@cornell.edu. All credit toward the minor must be from PMA courses taken at Cornell or from PMA courses taken with Cornell approved programs. Independent Study courses do not count toward any PMA minor.

Academic Standards

Grade Requirements

Each course must be completed with a grade of C or better to count toward the minor. If a course is offered only S-U, a grade of S is acceptable.

Minor Declaration Information 

Minor must be declared before week three of the final semester of enrollment at Cornell. Students should declare as early as possible to gain the appropriate advising to fulfill the minor.

Program Information

• Minimum Credits for Minor: 18

Minor Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Required Courses 1
PMA 3550	Global Cinema and Media	4
PMA 3531	Screenwriting	3
or PMA 3570	Film and Video Production I
or PMA 3571	Documentary Filmmaking
or PMA 3510	Documentary Production I
PMA 1410	Media Production Laboratory	2
or PMA 1610	Production Technology Laboratory
Three additional courses focused on film, excluding Production Laboratory courses		9

¹

• First-year Writing Seminars do not count for the minor.
• All courses must be taken for 3-credits or more, except in the case of the Production Labs, and a total of at least 15-credits are required.
• Cross listed courses not taught or co-taught by PMA faculty will not count as credit for any PMA Minor. Courses taken through Study Abroad programs, other than those directly affiliated with Cornell (such as Cornell-in-Rome), cannot be used toward the minor.
• Credits earned from Production Labs can only be used to fulfill the Production Lab requirement.