ifs International
Regionally anchored and internationally networked - at ifs we work with lecturers, students, and institutions from many countries around the world.
Moving Beyond
ifs international
The international orientation is an essential part of our profile. In a globalized industry, providing international perspectives, contacts, and intercultural skills is of particular importance for future filmmakers and media professionals.
Numerous international industry experts teach in our seminars and workshops and excursions to international industry events and festivals are an integral part of many study programs. Fixed mobility windows and a network of partner universities make it possible to study abroad.
Our professors, lecturers, and staff expand their international network through regular participation in international industry events, festivals, conferences, workshops, and scientific symposia.
We are a member of the international association of film and television schools CILECT and the European sub-association GEECT as well as the network ELIA - European League of Institutes of the Arts.
News
news on international activities
International offers
International Master‘s Programmes
International professional training
Studying Abroad
Bilateral exchange programs and mobility windows
In order to consolidate the respective career aspirations and to expand international activities and cooperations, the ifs has set up a mobility window, which creates free space for internships and semesters abroad.
The mobility window is available to BA FILM students in the 4th, 5th OR 6th semester, depending on how it can be most usefully integrated into the individual study plan.
Within the framework of our bilateral academic cooperations, ifs students have so far been able to spend semesters abroad in Australia, India, Israel, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom.
When choosing destinations, they can also benefit from our Erasmus partnerships for student mobility.
Erasmus Partnerships
Beit Berl College (Beit Berl, Israel)
Hochschule Luzern (Luzern, Schweiz)
RICTS (Brüssel, Belgien)
Université du Luxembourg (Luxemburg)
FAMU (Prag, Tschechien)
Other Partner Universities
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Italien)
ECAM The Madrid Film School (Spanien)
FTII (Pune, Indien)
Griffith University (Brisbane, Australien)
La Fémis (Frankreich)
Lodz Film School (Polen)
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Budapest, Ungarn)
Universidade Lusófona (Lissabon, Portugal)
Kingston University (London, UK)
Westerdals (Norwegen)
Seoul Institute of the Arts (Seoul, Südkorea)
Teaching and Project Work
Excursions
Students regularly participate in field trips to international industry events in Germany and abroad.
Examples include:
BA Film
Editing Picture and Sound: School of Sound Conference (London, Großbritannien)
VFX & Animation: Annecy International Animation Film Festival (Annecy, Frankreich)
Direcotr of Photography: Camerimage Filmfestival (Toruń, Polen)
Screenwriting, Creative Producing, Directing: Berlinale (Berlin, Germany)
MA Serial Storytelling
Berlinale (Berlin, Deutschland)
Film Festival Cologne / European Series Day (Köln, Germany)
Series Mania (Lille, Frankreich)
MA Digital Narratives
Transmediale (Berlin, Germany)
Re:publica (Berlin, Germany)
International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) (Amsterdam, Niederlande)
ifs films at international Festivals
Many of our student films were screened at renowned international film festivals, including festivals in Beijing, San Francisco, Berlin, Oberhausen, Dresden, Saarbrücken, Munich, Paris, New York, Rhode Island, Beirut, Prishtina, Tirana, Istanbul, Pune, Chennai, Reykjavik, San Sebastián, St. Petersburg, Montreal, Krakow, Bangkok, Auckland, and Sydney.
Numerous ifs films have also won international awards - the crowning example being the ifs graduation film "The Swing of the Coffin Maker" by Elmár Imánov (director) and Eva Blondiau (producer), which won the Student Academy Award - the "Student Oscar" - in Los Angeles in the category "Best Foreign Film" in bronze.
Shooting abroad
Some students shoot their films abroad, either as part of a bilateral exchange program or as their graduation films. Numerous feature films and documentaries have been shot in international locations: including Belgium, Ghana, Scotland, Spain, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Turkey, Morocco, Israel, South Korea, and Bangladesh.
Film projects shot abroad (selection)
International Students
International Students at the ifs
A total of 27% of ifs students are international students. Many of them come from Latin America, the Middle East, the USA, Great Britain, and the EU.
The ifs offers its international students comprehensive counseling - before their arrival in Germany, during and at the end of their studies. They also have access to TH Köln's resources for international students.
Since 2020, we have nominated a selection of international students for the DAAD Prize, which is awarded each year to an international student at TH Köln for exceptional academic achievement and social commitment.
International cooperation projects
future.film.education
»future.film.education – Online Teaching and Diversity in European Film Schools«
"future.film.education - Online Teaching and Diversity in European Film Schools".
European Research Project | 2021 - 2023 | Co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
The European research project aims to contribute to a more innovative, inclusive, and diverse film and academic education - both on- and offline.
Initiated by ifs internationale filmschule köln in cooperation with the Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in Hungary and Cooperativa de Formação e Animação Cultural (COFAC) of Universidade Lusófona in Portugal, future.film.education is a European research project.
As part of the project, research groups will develop two toolkits, one focusing on online teaching, the other on diversity, as well as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for European film and art schools. These can be used both to improve online teaching and to address (in)equality in education, to develop strategies for introducing diversity and inclusion as study goals - and thus to establish them as a central concept in higher education. The toolkits will include course materials, best practices, guidelines, and a self-assessment survey.
The toolkits will be freely available on the website in October 2022 and the MOOC in March 2023.