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Film schools occupy historic and contemporary relevance as centers of influence on the evolution of world cinema.

All generations of New York University filmmakers are connected by the seminal class Sight and Sound Filmmaking. Originally conceived by Haig Manoogian in the post-war period of the 1950s, approximately 175,000 Sight and Sound films have been made across multiple cohorts of filmmakers and film luminaries such as Martin Scorsese, Edward Berger, Sean Baker, Karyn Kusama, and Reed Morano.

There is no class that has ever functioned as the primary filmmaking catalyst and social nucleus of filmmaking culture like Sight and Sound.

This project investigates the history, evolution and relevance of Sight and Sound Filmmaking as a deep learning experience for every class participant. The typical Sight and Sound class makes 160 films per semester (every student produces, directs, edits and screens five short films during the semester). Across 75 years, this class has transformed over time into its own unique region of film culture, filmmaking, and film art. This project, Sight and Sound Filmmaking: The American Filmmaking Engine at the Tisch School of the Arts is devoted to the archiving, curation, preservation, and exhibition of this work.

Sight and Sound maintains its cutting edge role in the study and production of filmmaking alongside the advances in technology, distribution, and range of storytelling voices.
The future of Sight and Sound will also be considered as developments in generative AI become relevant in how work is conceived and produced.

The social bonds of the Sight and Sound filmmaking community are strong and extend into the film, television, and media-making industry.

Sight and Sound and its sphere of influence have never been studied on this scale before.

This project has been generously supported by Dean Allyson Green, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and the Tisch Initiative for Creative Research. The initial exhibition/installation of this work will premiere in 2026 at New York University.

rick.litvin@nyu.edu
Rick Litvin, Arts Professor
(Undergraduate Film and Television)

Project Participants:
Glenn Kenny, Instructor, Critic, Historian
(Undergraduate Film and Television)

Mame Astou-Toure (UGFTV, 2024)
Kate Phares (UGFTV, 2026)
Monimar Mancillas (UGFTV, 2025)
Will Newman (UGFTV, 2026)
Pedro Juan Gama (UGFTV, 2026)
Daniel Nozick (UGFTV, 2026)
Keara McArtney (UGFTV, 2027)
Jason Mendoza (UGFTV, 2025)
Spencer Sabath (UGFTV, 2026)
Iris O’Connor (UGFTV, 2027)

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THE AMERICAN FILMMAKING ENGINE AT THE TISCH SCHOOL

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THE AMERICAN
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