The following is a submission from Santa Monica College.
MovieMaker magazine has once again named Santa Monica College (SMC) one of the best film schools in North America. This year, SMC appears on the 30 Best Film Schoolsin the U.S. & Canada list, alongside AFI Conservatory, Columbia University, NYU, and UCLA, among others. This is SMC’s fourth appearance on the list, which this year lists 32 institutions due to ties.
MovieMaker’s annual list recognizes schools that prepare students for every aspect of filmmaking. SMC was recognized for providing access to students of all socio-economic backgrounds, charging “just $46 per unit for California residents” and for having a campus “located near the heart of the industry, and . . . an impressive record of transfers to nearby UCLA.”
Santa Monica College offers two-year film studies and film production programs enabling students to focus on scholarly theory or filmmaking. Students receive instruction in all facets of preproduction, production, and postproduction from faculty who are actively working in the film industry. While earning credits toward transfer to a four-year institution from a college with a stellar record of transfers, students get the hands-on opportunity to make films, giving them the experience necessary to land a job in filmmaking.
Salvador Carasco, SMC film production faculty lead, stated: “This distinction validates the unique approach of our program: our faculty is composed of professional filmmakers who are actively teaching, challenging, and helping our students achieve what they set out to do with rigorous on-set guidance and mentorship. Rather than send out students to film on their own, SMC’s approach ensures that when students graduate from our program they count on role models to emulate in terms of working methodology, safety procedures, and high-standard results expressed in films that say something meaningful about the complex world we live in.”
Since its launch in the fall of 2010, Santa Monica College’s award-winning film program has made over 30 short films linked to the capstone class, Film 33. Since its inception, eight SMC student films have been selected for/won accolades at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival (including 2021’s Best Student Film winner “Broken Layers”). The first short produced by the program, “Solidarity,” is now a feature film directed by SMC alum Dustin Brown and executive produced by Darren Aronofsky and Salvador Carrasco, among others. Many SMC students were involved in the making of the film, which had its world premiere at the Dances With Films: Los Angeles (DWF:LA) on June 19, 2026 at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood.
SMC student films have also won awards at numerous regional, national, and international film festivals including at the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum, the Panavision Limelight Award at the Ojai Film Festival, Best Short at the Vienna Independent Film Festival, Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival, several Gold Remi Awards at WorldFest-Houston, Best Short Drama at the San Diego International Film Festival, Best Short at the Prague Independent Film Festival, Prix Interculturel at the International Festival of Film Schools in Munich, andWinner at the Women’s Independent Film Festival, among many other awards.
In addition, the film program has received production grants from The Golden Globe Foundation (formerly known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), co-production sponsorships from Keslow Camera, Roundabout Entertainment, and the Next Generation Indie Film Awards Foundation.
MovieMaker is dedicated to the art and craft of making movies. Its list of the 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada in 2026 appears in their latest issue (the magazine is also online at moviemaker.com). For more information about the magazine, contact publisher Deirdre McCarrick deirdre@moviemaker.com or editor-in-chief Tim Molloy via tim.molloy@moviemaker.com.
SMC offers an Associate of Science degree and Certificate of Achievement in Film Production. To learn more, visit smc.edu/film or email Carrasco_Salvador@smc.
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