Gifted young African American filmmakers have had severely limited access to the film and television industries from their beginnings to the present. USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reports that across the 1,300 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2019, only 6.1% of directors were Black. We seek to seize this pivotal moment to prepare a pipeline of young Black filmmakers who will bring new perspectives to the art and business of cinema, building a more equitable and inclusive landscape within films and the industry producing them.
The Charles Burnett Graduate School of Global Cinema (CBSGC) offers an innovative global learning space for serious creatives to facilitate excellence in story and artistry in all filmmaking aspects, focusing on the Black experience and history as a profound root and resource for cinematic arts. We aim to equip students to interact with and learn from world cultures, and to foster global entertainment industry relationships and experiences, positioning graduates for meaningful careers in the entertainment industry and inspiring in them a life-long commitment to equity, inclusion, and justice, propelled by faith, generosity, and love.
CBSGC's innovative concept provides unprecedented opportunities for graduate students of the cinematic arts, placing them in a privileged position compared to other film school graduates. This groundbreaking three-year Master of Fine Arts degree revolves around experiential learning in Hollywood and centers of cinematic industry and excellence worldwide.
CUTTING-EDGE CURRICULUM
▻ Year 1 lays the foundations for the MFA, including the Sundance Film Festival, Black experience and history, and Masterclass Workshops with industry experts.
▻ Year 2 features semester-long experiences in filmmaking around the globe, allowing students to incorporate artistic and industrial perspectives from other cultures as a creative resource for their art and to build valuable relationships. This year includes:
‣ May-July: France (European cinema), Cannes Film Festival
‣ September-December: Seoul, Korea (East Asian cinema), Busan
Int’l Film Festival (BIFF)
‣ January term: Mumbai, India (Bollywood & Indian Art Cinema)
‣ February-May: Cape Town, South Africa (African cinema), with two
weeks in Nigerian and Faso for FESPACO, the largest African
film festival
▻ Year 3 focuses on Hollywood cinema and internships in Los Angeles while students complete their final MFA project, which includes the option of making a feature film.
PROGRAM ADVANTAGES
▻ Alumni will continue to receive career coaching and development and engage in ongoing education and networking opportunities.
▻ Tuition will be on the lower end of the top-tier graduate film schools, projected at $26,000/year.
▻ Funding for the global year will come partially from regular tuition, sponsorships, and fundraising.
▻ Planning toward WASC accreditation before the first class graduates (process starts one year before students begin).
We look forward to sharing CBSGC's detailed narrative plan, financial plan, and the details of the people involved. The credentials of the school's president, provost, and founder/board chair are impeccable. We have a stellar Board of Regents, Advisory Board, and legal representation--GHP Law.
Location: The Leimert Park area of South Los Angeles is the African arts district of LA. We are in initial conversations with Stocker Street Creative, a large film studio/local non-profit business and education facility funded by a social impact investor that will be completed in 2024. (See https://stockerstreetcreative.com/.)
The Charles Burnett Graduate School of Global Cinema is the first film school in the US named after an African American filmmaker. Charles Burnett is revered worldwide for his films, which portray the dignity, beauty, and struggles of the Black community, examining social justice issues through poetic and poignantly real aesthetics. Charles’s films Killer of Sheep (1978) and To Sleep with Anger (1990), each set in South Los Angeles, are in the Library of Congress. In 2018, he received the honorary Oscar and, in 1988, the MacArthur “Genius Grant,” among many other awards. Charles is on the Advisory Board, and his son, filmmaker, and professor Jonathan Burnett is on the Board of Regents. Charles holds an MFA degree from UCLA. CBSGC’s motto reflects its namesake’s life and career: “Reaching beyond: excellence, artistry, integrity, world-care.”
EIN: 92-0259073
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