Join UM School of Communication Professor John Soliday this summer and experience a unique workshop in film. Previous student projects have been screened at nine national film festivals including five screened at the New York Film Festival!

This program is open to students from all universities, all majors, at all levels with an interest in any aspect of film.

With expert guidance, you will get involved with screenwriting, directing, acting, lighting, cinematography, composition, art decoration, and Avid editing as director, actor, author, designer, and producer of your own short digital video/film. All classes in production, history, and theory are taught in English by the distinguished faculty of the National Film School and Charles University. Guest lecturers include Academy Award-winning members of the renowned Czech New Wave.

Every year since 1989, UM students have traveled overseas to attend the Czech National Film-Art-Music University of Performing Arts and Theatre (FAMU) workshop in Prague. In previous years, students met five Academy Award winners.

Founded in 1945, FAMU is one of the most distinguished institutions of its kind in Europe. The film school ranks among the top three on the European continent and counts among its most famous graduates Academy Award winners Milos Forman (Loves of a Blond, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Man on the Moon) Jiri Menzel and Jaromir Sofr (Closely Watched Trains) Elmar Klos (The Shop on High Street) and Jan Sverak and Alois Fisarek (Kola).

The Academy is also the training ground for many of the significant figures of the Czech New Wave, one of the most political and aesthetically influential film movements of the post World War II era.

Prague, located in the heart of Europe, is the capital of the Czech Republic and the center of the country's political, economic, social and cultural life. Most American visitors find this city, situated on the River Vltava, the safest, most beautiful and exciting city in Europe. Prague is the only major European city not bombed in World War II. The city's physical and architectural beauty is accentuated by the warm hospitality of its inhabitants.

In addition to its more traditional charms, Prague constitutes a laboratory for political, economic, and social change in Central and Eastern Europe. Students will participate in intensive film studies while they witness the historical transformation of a critical region of the world and site of the now famous Velvet Revolution of 1989. President Vaclav Havel, who led the country from communism to democracy, was a playwright and filmmaker and was critical in making Prague a filmmaking capitol of the world.

University of Miami students seeking to apply to the Film Program in Prague must complete and submit the application form (PDF) of the International Education and Exchange Programs to Dr. John Soliday.

Non-UM students must submit three documents to Dr. John Soliday:

• the completed application form (PDF) of the International Education and Exchange Programs;
• a recommendation form (PDF) from a faculty member; and
• an official transcript.
• a $40 application fee (check payable to "University of Miami").

Non-UM students should mail or fax the application to Dr. John Soliday at once to hold a position.

The program fills quickly, and early applications are highly recommended. Applications are reviewed as received. Upon acceptance, students are required to submit a $1,000 non-refundable deposit by April 1, 2004. Emergency cancellations may create last-minute openings. Contact John Soliday to inquire about last-minute availabilities.

Program

The five week summer program consists of four components: Film Production, The History of Motion Picture, Film Studies and Cultural Orientation to the history, architecture, art, music, theatre and cinema of Prague. Students earn 6 credits that replace CMP film requirements in production, and history, scriptwriting or theory, or electives.

Film Production emphasizes film/video cinematography and direction. Participants present an individual still camera photographic storyboard of their film set on the spectacularly beautiful, ancient Charles Bridge or in Old Town Prague Square. Students also direct short video/films in pairs, shot on location in Romanesque, Medieval, Rennaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau, or Modern Prague. Students crew each other's films and participate in all phases of pre-production, screenwriting, directing, art direction, location scouting, acting, lighting, camera operation, composition and post-production editing.

The History of Motion Picture covers the development of European cinema from its inception to the present, emphasizing Czech and Slovak live-action films as well as the country's prestigious documentary and animated-film productions. European film is studies as it has influenced or been influenced by American film.

Film Studies explores film theory and criticism, again with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak films and critical writing as it has influenced or been influenced by American film genres.

A major component of this study abroad program is Cultural Orientation to Europe in general and the Czech Republic in particular. In Prague students visit the many galleries, museums, castles, cathedrals, and attend films, concerts, opera, multimedia, magic lantern, black light and theatre performances.

Most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are free for special projects or travel. Several excursions outside Prague are included: the Barrandov Film Studios, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, film locations in the wine country of Moravia, the Medieval Cathedral, Silver Mines and Bone Church in Kunta Hora, and Renaissance castle, Baroque theatre of Cesky Krumlov in Bohemia. Two additional three-to-four day periods are free for sightseeing or European travel. Past students have traveled by Euro-train to Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, Salzberg, Krakow, Dresden, Frankfurt, Munich Amsterdam, Venice, Heidelberg, Cologne, Munich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Strasbourg, Florence, Rome, Versailles, and Paris.

Dr. Soliday conducts optional excursions to the Vienna Film Studios and Film Festival, Salzburg Festival, Dresden, Potsdam, the Berlin Film Museum and Bablesberg Film Studios, and the Munich Bavarian Film Studios during the final filming and editing weekends. Students are welcome to join him on these independent trips, discovering the techniques of European student travel: Eurail Train Passes, Youth Hostels, Student Museum, Theater, and Concert Discounts, etc.

Faculty

Renowned members of the Czech New Wave such as Oscar winner Jiri Menzel, Jaromil Jiris, Vera Chytilova, Oscar winner Jaromir Sofr, Sundance International winner Alois Fisarek, documentary filmmaker Rudolf Krejcik, and filmmaker Michael Havas, winner of the Grand Prix for "New Media in Documentary/Animation CD ROM" as well as animators such as Oscar winner Gene Deitch, Jiri Barta or Jan Svankmajer present their films followed by discussions.

FAMU and Charles University film historian Dr. Dutka, Dr. Bregant, and Columbia Film School historian Pavel Jeck teach the film studies component of the program. Twenty-two members of the renowned FAMU faculty and staff teach the film production component of the program. All classes are conducted in English.

Participants are accompanied by Professor John Soliday from the University of Miami's Motion Picture Program who teaches Film Directing, Art Direction, Scriptwriting, Location Scouting and Acting for the Camera. He also conducts Art Direction/Scene Design classes and tours of Prague, the motion picture archives at the National Institute of Technology (housing the largest collection of magic lanterns, motion picture cameras and projectors in the world and home of Charlie Chaplin's memorabilia) and the animation sound stages, design shops and screening room at the renowned Barrandov Film Studios where Amadeus, Swingkids, Mission Impossible, Les Misérables, Dearly Beloved, A Night's Tale, The Affair of the Necklace, The Mists of Avelon, The Diary of Anne Frank, Johnny Depp's From Hell, Billy Crystal's My Giant, XXX, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Bruce Willis' Hart's War were filmed.

Costs

2005 Estimated Expenses:
UM Program Fee*: $2,375
UM Tuition: $5,022
Room: $500
Food (estimate): $600

*Program Fee includes: Tuition (6 undergraduate credits for CMP 594, sections 80 and 81), accommodation, all classroom and laboratory equipment and supplies, student activity fee (for included excursions, tours, museums, films, theatre, puppet,magic lantern, opera, and concerts) and IEEP Fee. Graduate credits are also available at graduate tuition rates.

Additional student expenses will vary according to individual spending habits and travel and the rate of exchange at the time of the study. Students are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. Many students fly to Brussels, Paris, Zurich, or Amsterdam and travel by train through Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland) on Eurail Passes to and from Prague. Student travel loans and air/rail discounts are available.

Stipends are available to some students – ranging from $200 to $1,000 depending upon GPA and financial need. Contact Amy Cosan (305) 284-4175 for specifics and necessary forms.STUDENT LOANS are also available. If you’re a Florida resident, additional funds may be secured. For information about on-campus housing, stipends or students loans, contact Amy Cosan: c.cosan@miami.edu. Amy is located on the 2 nd floor of Allen Hall directly across from the School of Communication Wolfson Building.

Optional 2-night/3-day excursions to Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden film studios and museums cost approximately $250. Optional 4-night/5-day excursions to the Vienna Film Studio and Festival, the Salzburg Festival and the Munich Bavarian Film Studios is approximately $300.

Deadline for the $1,000 deposit is April 1. The remaning $4,000 is due May 1.