New Center for Cinematic Arts to offer first courses this spring

Liberty University’s new Center for Cinematic Arts will begin offering courses in the spring 2012 semester. The three introductory courses — screenwriting, motion picture directing and cinematography — will be offered again in summer 2012.

In Wednesday’s convocation, Provost Dr. Ron Godwin encouraged students to become part of a groundbreaking program to reach the world for Christ through filmmaking.

“Our new Center for Cinematic Arts is operating within our School of Communications and is providing a vehicle for which to reach the world with a medium that Liberty University has never offered before,” Godwin said.

Stephan Schultze was introduced as the director of the program. Schultze has been involved in every aspect of the film industry. He was the founding director of the Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI), a film school in Sedona, Ariz., that Liberty is using as a model for its new program. ZGI offers hands-on experience and mentors who are not just academics, but professionals in the field.

Schultze’s professional experience includes projects directed by James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Ron Underwood. He has worked on major motion pictures (Tremors, The Abyss, Henson Productions), television (Drew Carey Show, HBO, Showtime), music videos, commercials, industrial videos, and countless independent films.

Liberty first announced the new center in May (read here). Registration for the new courses begins Oct. 24.

For more information on Liberty’s Center for Cinematic Arts, go to www.liberty.edu/CinematicArts.