Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema

The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, based within the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal, is a major university centre for the study of animation, film production, and moving image studies. Established in 1976 as the Department of Cinema and renamed in 1997, the school approaches moving image disciplines through a fine-arts framework that prioritizes experimental techniques, critical inquiry, and independent authorship alongside technical proficiency.

Academic Pathways

Curricula span practical production and critical moving image theory:

• Film Animation: Focuses on frame-by-frame animation, stop-motion, under-camera techniques, animated documentary, and creative compositing. The program encourages hybrid workflows that integrate traditional hand-drawn drawing tables and physical puppet studios with digital pipelines.
• Film Production: Covers fiction and documentary filmmaking, cinematography, sound design, and expanded immersive screen practices.
• Interdisciplinary Tracks: Students can pursue joint studies in Computation Arts and Game Design, integrating physical computing, game mechanics, creative coding, and interactive media with cinema studies.

In addition to BFA, MA, MFA, and PhD degree tracks, the school offers focused twelve-week microprograms, including Fundamentals of Digital Filmmaking and Screenwriting and Film Producing, with remote study options available for selected French-language cohorts.

Production Infrastructure

Technical facilities are supported through the Centre for Digital Arts (CDA), which provides access to computing labs equipped with production software such as Autodesk Maya, Blender, DaVinci Resolve, TVPaint Animation, Unity, Pro Tools, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Specialist physical spaces include:

• Dedicated 2D hand-drawn animation studios and DSLR under-camera capture stands
• Sound recording studios and surround-sound mixing suites
• Professional digital colour grading and finishing rooms
• The Visual Collections Repository (VCR), holding over 35,000 physical and digital media titles
• The Global Emergent Media (GEM) Lab, supporting research into emerging screen media and preservation