The Department of Film and Media Studies is designed for those who are captivated by the large screen and the small screen. As home to the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television and New Media, we have become one of the world’s leading film and media research centers, fostering a new generation of visionaries with a stake in the future of screen media.

We focus on film, television, and new media around the world. Our 400 undergraduates cultivate critical and analytical skills through the study of media objects and practices. Students have the opportunity to interact closely with distinguished faculty on research projects and to meld theory with practice through a vibrant mix of activities, such as the Screenwriters' Co-op, Reel Loud Film Festival, and Media Fields Journal.

The Department hosts the long-running AFI Routledge book series.  

The Department of Film and Media Studies at UCSB is a place creative young minds can thrive. Watch as students describe their creative and academic experiences.

Film and Media studies News & Events

Featured
STEM and Storytelling: Following Interdisciplinary Passions
Student Spotlight
STEM and Storytelling: Following Interdisciplinary Passions
Student Spotlight

UC Santa Barbara Biology student Maritza Ramos Leon is proving that science and art don’t have to live in separate worlds. While pursuing a STEM degree, she wrote and directed a short film that explores a tender queer relationship, drawing from personal experiences and a desire for authentic representation. Ramos’ journey reflects the power of following all your passions—even when they seem to pull in opposite directions.

Student Spotlight
Studying Soccer: A User-Friendly Approach to Cultural Studies
Cool Courses, Focus on Faculty
Studying Soccer: A User-Friendly Approach to Cultural Studies
Cool Courses, Focus on Faculty

UC Santa Barbara literature and film professor Eloi Grasset, who has taught at Harvard and the University of Barcelona, now brings his expertise in Spanish and Iberian culture to a new course open to all majors: Soccer in the Hispanic World. 

Cool Courses, Focus on Faculty
Of Land and Memory in the Middle East
News, Student Spotlight
Of Land and Memory in the Middle East
News, Student Spotlight

The Center for Middle East Studies recently held a graduate panel to highlight student’s research, a part of the center’s Spotlight Series. Camilla Falanesca, Giovanni Vimercati, and bridge mcwaid all presented their research, spanning from the film distribution in Beirut, to the fish market in 1950’s Palestine, to the oilfield in El Borma, Tunisia.

News, Student Spotlight
The Dark Legacy of the Krishna Movement
Alumni All-Stars, News
The Dark Legacy of the Krishna Movement
Alumni All-Stars, News

UC Santa Barbara alum Nori Muster joined filmmaker Jason Lapeyre and moderator David Gartell, a religious studies expert in the UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections, for a screening and post-screening discussion of docudrama Monkey on a Stick hosted by UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center. Muster was recruited by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) when she was a sociology senior at UCSB in 1978. She was a historical advisor for the film.

Alumni All-Stars, News
Arriving at University After More than Two Decades
Student Spotlight, Blog
Arriving at University After More than Two Decades
Student Spotlight, Blog

At 41, Jose Alejandro Mendoza represents a growing wave of non-traditional college students navigating higher education after decades in the workforce. His journey—marked by resilience, mental health battles, and creative achievements—challenges traditional timelines and redefines what it means to belong on a college campus.

Student Spotlight, Blog
Honoring Donors and Student Creativity
News, Student Spotlight
Honoring Donors and Student Creativity
News, Student Spotlight

The 2025 winners of the UCSB Humanities and Fine Arts Division’s Give Day Creativity Contest joined HFA faculty and donors at a lunch last week to receive awards for their original work in writing, photography, art and music.

News, Student Spotlight
From Campus Coverage to Broadcast Journalism
Alumni All-Stars
From Campus Coverage to Broadcast Journalism
Alumni All-Stars

UCSB alumna Alexandra Goldberg turned her passion for journalism into a career in broadcast news. From reporting at UCSB to working at WHAS11, an ABC-affiliated TV station in Louisville, Kentucky, Goldberg believes her time at UCSB helped her develop key journalism skills. Now, she shares how her college experience shaped her path to the professional newsroom.

Alumni All-Stars
From Actor to Director: Delving Deep into "Sweeney Todd"
Student Spotlight, News
From Actor to Director: Delving Deep into "Sweeney Todd"
Student Spotlight, News

UCSB English student and actor-turned-director Curran Seth made his directorial debut with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, collaborating with the UCSB Music Department and Shrunken Heads Production Company to bring the dark, character-driven story to life. Emphasizing emotional depth over technical precision, Seth guided his cast—many of whom were primarily singers—to tap into their characters' psychology, resulting in a raw and immersive production.

Student Spotlight, News
HFA Speaks: Five Years after Lockdown, a Lingering Legacy in the Arts
News, Focus on Faculty
HFA Speaks: Five Years after Lockdown, a Lingering Legacy in the Arts
News, Focus on Faculty

Five years after COVID-19’s initial outbreak across the U.S., Letty García, Nomi Morris and Nathan Roberts from the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts gathered to unpack its impacts on film, the performing arts, writing and academia for a UC Santa Barbara audience. While quarantine fostered artistic innovation and collective creativity, it also transformed university students in both positive and negative ways, according to the speakers.

News, Focus on Faculty
The Poetic Cinema of Shane Book
News
The Poetic Cinema of Shane Book
News

Shane Book, a poet and filmmaker, spoke at An Evening of Film and Poetry with Shane Book last week. Co-sponsored by the College of Creative Studies, Film and Media Studies, and the Center for Black Studies Research, Book spoke about his poetry books, his two short films, and his time spent learning and living in a myriad of different cities.

News
A TV Cartoon as a Catalyst for Social Change in South Asia
News
A TV Cartoon as a Catalyst for Social Change in South Asia
News

Meena Ki Kahani (Stories of Meena), a beloved animated series created by UNICEF in 1993, has become a cultural phenomenon in South Asia, addressing critical issues like gender inequality, child labor, and trafficking. Speaking at a UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities event, Indian scholar Jawa Jha highlighted the series’ profound societal impact. Jha believes the series shows how media can inspire social change.

News
Immersive, Hands-on Filmmaking
Cool Courses, Focus on Faculty
Immersive, Hands-on Filmmaking
Cool Courses, Focus on Faculty

From Netflix, PBS, Discovery, The History Channel, and more, film professor Chris Jenkins brings his professional documentary experience to the classroom to teach students the art of film production. The poplular, two-term course Crew Production teaches pitching, networking, and all that goes into workting with a production team.

Cool Courses, Focus on Faculty
An Insider Lens on Storytelling
Focus on Faculty, News
An Insider Lens on Storytelling
Focus on Faculty, News

Cheri Steinkellner has had a successful career in television, film, and theater and is now writing a novel. She continues to be a legend in the storytelling world, sharing her expertise with UCSB film students and insider stories from the industry. In an HFA interview, Steinkellner discusses her experiences working on iconic projects like Cheers and her unique creative teaching methods.

Focus on Faculty, News
The “Disneyfication” of Literature for Children
News, Student Spotlight
The “Disneyfication” of Literature for Children
News, Student Spotlight

Movies and media shape children’s understanding of culture and morality, but the “Disneyfication” of literature often raises questions about what is gained or lost in the process. Martina Mattei, a Comparative Literature Ph.D. student at UC Santa Barbara, examined Disney’s adaptations of Pinocchio and The Little Mermaid. She noted how Disney simplified the dark moral complexity of Pinocchio into a more uplifting tale and highlighted the backlash against Halle Bailey’s casting in the 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid, reflecting nostalgia for Disney’s earlier portrayal. Mattei argues that simplified adaptations can risk erasing the cultural richness of the originals, shaping how future generations understand these tales.

News, Student Spotlight
What UCSB's Mona Damluji ‘Wants You to Know’ About her new Children’s Book
Focus on Faculty
What UCSB's Mona Damluji ‘Wants You to Know’ About her new Children’s Book
Focus on Faculty

UCSB Film and Media Studies professor Mona Damluji recently discussed her journey into children's literature and the inspiration behind her socially-conscious works. Damluji published her debut children’s book, Together, in 2021, emphasizing the power of collective action. Her upcoming book, I Want You to Know, dives deeper into personal and political narratives. Written as a poem for her children, the book reflects on the generational effects of war, particularly in the Middle East, and explores themes of displacement and resilience. Damluji aims to open dialogue about complex histories, colonialism, and intergenerational trauma.

Focus on Faculty