For prospective students

RUSSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF CINEMATOGRAPHY

 

The Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK) is the world’s oldest film school founded in 1919 by Lev Kuleshov and Vladimir Gardin, outstanding Russian filmmakers. S. Eisenstein, A. Dovzhenko, M. Romm, S. Bondarchuk, R. Karmen, G. Chukhrai, E. Tisse, A. Golovya, B. Volchek, Ye. Gabrilovich, V, Yezhov, S. Komarov, R. Yurenev taught at VGIK at different periods of its history. Some of VGIK’s alumni, such as A. Tarkovsky, V. Shukshin, O. Ioseliani, A. Konchalovsky, N. Mikhalkov, V. Abdrashitov.

The university’s faculty comprises highly qualified scholars and professionals working in film and television industry and at the theatre.

VGIK is an institution of higher education training specialists at the following departments:

Department	Course of studies	Form of Studies
The Department of Film Direction trains: directors of fiction film, television programs and video; directors of non-fiction film, television programs and video; directors of multimedia programs, sound directors	5 years	full-time
The Department of Acting trains drama, film and TV actors	4 years	full-time
The Department of Cinematography trains directors of photography for film and television	5 years	full-time, correspondence
The Department of Animation and Multimedia trains animation and computer graphics directors; multimedia program directors.	5 years	full-time
The Department of Screen-Writing and Cinema Studies trains fiction and documentary film screen-writers; film scholars, film critics	5 years	full-time, correspondence
The Department of Production Design trains production designers, special effects designers, costume designers, animators and computer graphics artists.	6 years	full-time
The Department of Film Producing & Economics trains producers and distributors of audio-visual media	5 years	full-time, correspondence

 

1. The training is done in accordance with the curricula of higher education comprising a wide range of disciplines in the chosen profession as well as humanities (as Russian and World Literature, History of Art, Film History, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Theory and History of Culture, Music, etc.) The curriculum completed successfully, the student gets a diploma of a specialist, a state-recognized document of higher education on the results of the final project assessment.

2. Foreign citizens with a previous university degree can be enrolled on a special shortened program (3-3,3 years) or to the Center of Extended Professional Education which offers a further training in main movie professions: Screenwriting, Film Directing, Documentary Film and TV Directing, Cinema Studies, Film and Drama Acting, Film and TV Producing, Sound Design.

3. The University also has a post-graduate program for training scholars in various areas of cinema studies (“Film, Television and Other Audio-Visual Arts”; “Economics and Management in Non-Production Spheres”) that offers a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Art.

4. There is a possibility of having special courses (individual or group) in different aspects of filmmaking, e.g. Film Editing, Video, Animation and Computer Graphics, History and Theory of Cinema, Screenwriting. Educational services in a number of other spheres of film production, TV and multimedia are also available. The duration of these courses depends upon the applicant's choice and the desired level of training. After finishing the course the student gets a certificate.

5. In Summer VGIK organizes short workshops ("Summer School") which combine studies with a tourist program.

The University has a film studio, where students make their shooting exercises and graduation films.

VGIK has a 16-floor student hostel for 750 people. There are 16 blocks on the floor, each block consisting of two bedrooms, a hall and a bathroom. The hostel also has a gym and a weight room, classrooms for Russian lessons, drawing and music, a student café, a shop where one can buy food and essential goods.

The teaching is in Russian. Those not speaking Russian are offered a Preparatory Russian Language program where the students also get the first notion of their future profession.

Training of foreign citizens at VGIK is financed from the federal budget when they are admitted in accordance with a) the recommendation of the Federal Education Agency, approved by the RF Ministry of Culture, b) the international treaties. In all other cases students are to pay a fee under a contract, which is renewed every year. The tuition fee of the basic academic course (A) and post-graduate program (C) is revised annually and approved by the Learned Council. The cost of other programs depends upon the number of the subjects and services and is estimated individually.

The tuition fee does not include the cost of the shooting and video exercises and graduation projects made by the students in the course of studies and depends on the character of the chosen project. It does not include the hostel rent either.

For the enrollment the applicants should submit the following documents:

       -   a written application; 

       -   an application form; 

       -   the officially legalized original of the document stating his or her academic background with an appendix listing the studied subjects, academic hours and marks and their notarized translations into Russian; 

       -   8-10 3×4 cm photographs;

For issuing an official invitation a foreign citizen should submit the copy of the first page of his or her passport with his or her full name, date of birth, number and expiry date and state the place where he or she will get the visa (the country and town).

For the enrollment after passing the entrance tests beside the listed above documents one should present:

      - the certificate of the equivalence of the certificates of education obtained at the Federal Department of Control in the Sphere of Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor);

       - a medical insurance policy;

       - the original of the visa (if the foreign citizen came to Russia on an entrance visa) and the migration card stating the aim of coming to Russia as “Studies at the Federal Educational Institution VGIK” and their copies;

       - a medical certificate saying that there are no contradictions to studying at VGIK and the chosen profession;

       - a certificate indicating the absence of HIV infection.

Foreign citizens are admitted to VGIK on the results of the entrance tests, the list and form of which is defined by the entrance rules for the corresponding profession and approved by the University’s Entrance Board. The entrance tests consist of creative examinations and the Uniform State Examination obligatory for all applicants.

Foreign citizens having a higher education certified by a Master degree or a Specialist diploma are admitted to VGIK’s post-graduate program on a competitive basis. Presenting the abstract of the future thesis is obligatory.

The enrollment of foreign citizens with the zero knowledge of Russian to the Russian Language Preparatory Department begins on October 1^st of the current year.