AFDA x CILECT: Opening up international study opportunities for students

Jan 14, 2022 | Film School, News

As a full member of CILECT – The International Association of Film and Television Schools since 2006, AFDA is recognised internationally, and all AFDA students and alumni have the opportunity to continue or further their studies at any of the 180+ CILECT member film schools around the world. These include: UCLA (Los Angeles), TISCH (New York), Columbia, (Chicago), La Femis (Paris), London Film School (London), Chapman University (California) and the Beijing Film Academy (Beijing), to name a few.

CILECT, founded in Cannes, France, in 1954 at the proposal of Marcel L’Herbier (IDHEC President) and Rémy Tessonneau (IDHEC General Director) now includes over 180 audio-visual educational institutions from 65 countries on 6 continents with 9,000+ teachers and staff that annually train 55,000+ students and communicate with an alumni network over 1,330,000+ strong.

Many highly successful AFDA graduates have furthered their studies abroad. Actress, model and television show host, Amanda du Pont, completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Live Performance at AFDA and then went on to further he studies and graduate from the New York Film Academy in New York City, where she was awarded a full scholarship for scholastic excellence.

AFDA’s membership to CILECT also allows AFDA to submit three graduation films annually (one fiction/one animation/one documentary) to the CILECT Prize and the most prestigious of them all, the Student Academy Awards (Oscars).

In 2006, AFDA celebrated Oscar glory, winning the 2006 Best Foreign Language Student Film award with the AFDA honours film “Elalini”, directed by Tristan Holmes. This was almost repeated in 2012 when AFDA honours film “Kanye Kanye”, directed by Miklas Manneke, was selected as a finalist for the Student Academy Awards. The film went on to win over 25 international film festivals around the world. Miklas also went on to further his studies at Emerson College in Boston.

Over the years AFDA has also developed strong partnerships with CILECT member film schools. Students from Noroff Vocational School in Norway can complete two years at Noroff and their third year at AFDA and get a Bachelor’s degree in Arts in Motion Picture Medium.

The 2021 Student Academy Award winning film “Lakutshon’ IIanga” which won Gold at the 49th Annual Student Academy Awards in the Narrative: Domestic Schools category. The film, written and directed by South African-born Phumi Morare, for her MFA thesis in Film Directing at Chapman University, was made with the assistance and guidance of AFDA Johannesburg, its staff, students and alumni in collaboration with CILECT member Chapman University in California.

CILECT believes in the inherent inter-connectivity of humankind and fully supports creativity, diversity, cross-cultural thinking and sustainable development as fundamental prerequisites to human existence and progress.

CILECT is committed to developing and promoting the highest standards of education, research and training for film, television and related media through establishing and organizing global and regional forums for the exchange of artistic, pedagogical, methodological and managerial best practices for all its members.

AFDA co-founder, Garth Holmes was an executive board member of CILECT and the Chairman of CARA (CILECT African Regional Association), the regional association of the CILECT member schools in the African Region for 10 years, up until 2018.

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