| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2024-09-06 | - |
| 2024-01-12 | - |
Program Overview
The semester program at Prague Film School is the first term of the year program. Those who don’t have the time or other resources to invest in the longer format course can take the semester course as a first and substantial step in training for the screen. The course involves students in a live-and-breath film acting experience, occupying them 8 hours a day in intensive studio work - and up to 7 days a week on set!
Students in enrolled in the semester course follow foundation courses in Acting Theory (Meisner and Stanislavsky), Screen Acting, Film Production, Movement (Yoga, Dance and Stage Combat), Voice and Speech and Alternative Techniques (Improvisation and Ensemble Strategies). Students also take one elective course offered school-wide.
In addition to daily sessions in front of the camera and weekly scene work, acting for film students will participate in 3 film school student projects – involving them in up to 20 productions during the first four months.
By the end of the semester acting for film school students will have developed deep skills in acting for various shot sizes and in honing a realistic portrayal of character employing Meisner and other techniques introduced in the fall. They will have mastered a number of dances and combat moves applicable to historical and contemporary roles. They will have received training in film production itself – in lighting, camera, editing and sound. Perhaps most importantly, acting for film students will return home with substantial experience on set and with a body of work to prove it!
The semester program is the first semester of the year course. It is possible to enroll in the semester course and then prolong ones studies to the second semester of the year course while studying in the semester program. However, doing so incurs higher fees than enrolling in the year program directly.
Program Outline
Content of the semester
The semester curriculum of Acting for Film program covers below listed obligatory courses, and optional elective courses.
1. Foundation Courses (obligatory)
Meisner
Stanislavsky
Screen Acting Craft
Film Production
Dance
Yoga
Stage Combat
Voice
Speech and Dialect
Improvisation
2. Elective/Specialization Courses (each student takes 1 course) – 2 credits total
Aesthetics of the Film Shot as a Component of Film Language
Acting Styles
Advanced Cameras
Central and East European Cinema
Directing Actors
Directing the Camera
Documentary Theory and History
Film Industry
Film Comedy
Film Analysis
Lighting
Photography for Cinematography
Post-production effects
Post-production workflow
Visualization
Write, Act, Shoot
3. Student Films (obligatory)
Acting for Film students will integrated into three school-wide film projects first semester: a three minute scene from an established film; a 4 minute short and a five minute end of semester film. Acting for film students may be requested to act in a number of student productions for each of these projects.
What makes the PFS Acting for Film Program so special?
Focus on Film Acting
While acting courses can be found virtually everywhere, very few offer a live-and-breathe total immersion experience aimed at re-calibrating one‘s performance for the screen. Film acting requires a different set of skills than theater acting – and Prague Film School guarantees the acquisition of these skills.
Production-Work Heavy
More than 400 films are shot per year at Prague Film School and actors in the year program participate on as many as 30 productions. Acting for Film students then learn the specific skills that make up the craft of film acting but also leave the program with substantial material for a quality show reel. Actors are also trained in production – writing, operating the camera and editing.
Praxis-oriented
Students are placed in front of the camera from day one of the course and receive rigorous training in class and on set. Monologue and scene-work daily develop students' ability to hone their performances for the camera – both habituating students to the specifics related to acting for various shot sizes and blocking arrangements but also developing their skills to be able to deliver believable and compelling performances.
Intensive
The type of student who chooses Prague Film School comes to us because he or she has essentially only one year in terms of time or financial resources to cross from where he or she is in life at the moment into the world of professional filmmaking. We then have only one year to bring these students to a level of competence where they can operate professionally. As such the program is highly squeezed.
Prague and access to roles in big-budget Hollywood productions
Not only is Prague a beautiful historic location with an active student life, but hundreds of international productions have been shot in the city including Bourne Identity, Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Carnival Row, and Jojo Rabbit, to name a few. Prague Film School provides access to the top local casting agencies and directors and several students from the Prague Film School Acting for Film program annually land roles in big budget productions coming to town.
International
Students in the course come from all over the world. This both enriches the course with a diverse palette of acting traditions and also provides students an invaluable network of international contacts to access upon graduating.
What does the program offer?
- A total immersion in film acting
- Daily hands-on work in front of the camera
- A serious, international and professional learning environment
- An intensive curriculum that encompasses all aspects of acting
- Material for a professional show reel
- Acting work in a number of short films
- Access to local casting directors, agents and small to big budget film productions
- The opportunity to write your own film and star in it
How will the program help actors get into the industry?
The department will provide:
- Valuable contacts to a network of filmmakers including classmates and faculty at Prague Film School
- Career guidance
- Effective courses in on-camera casting technique and actor marketing
- Direct links to film productions in Prague
- Material for a quality show reel and the ability to edit it one’s self
- Most importantly, skills
Student careers
The majority of students enroll in the Acting for Film program to launch their careers in film and television. Students get invaluable access to local casting directors as well as to opportunities to audition for professional jobs. The founder of the Acting for Film program, Nancy Bishop, is an Emmy-nominated casting director and has cast over 100 projects. Nancy Bishop Casting continues to offer Prague Film School students precious access to castings for international productions coming through Prague – and every year several students earn their first credits in major big budget films.
★ Sample Alumni Career Trajectories
Brian Colin Foley (2012) was cast in Snowpiercer while studying at PFS, directed by the legendary Oscar-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho and starring such talents as Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton and Ed Harris. Brian earned his SAG/AFTRA card for roles in the HBO mini series Show Me a Hero, directed by Paul Haggis, NBC's The Mysteries of Laura, and most recently Netflix's Orange is the New Black, in which he worked with Emmy Award Winning Actress, Uzo Aduba.
Scott Lipman (2017) was cast in National Geographic’s Genius, directed by Ron Howard, while studying at PFS. Several months later he was cast in The Catcher Was a Spy, starring Paul Rudd, Sienna Miller and Paul Wilkinson.
Xander Turian (2019) was cast in what has become a recurring speaking role on the Amazon Prime Original Series Carnival Row alongside stars such as Orlando Bloom and Cara Delavigne. Since graduating from the program, he has been back to Prague to shoot multiple projects including Shadowplay starring Michael C Hall and Taylor Kitsch, as well as the second season of Carnival Row.
Rutger Lysen (2020) was cast in a supporting role in a Netflix feature film, after working with casting director Arwa Salmanova in an audition class at PFS. The film will be released in 2021.
Isabel Stewart (2018) landed roles in National Geographic’s Genius, Ophelia (opposite Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley) and Taika Waititi’s Oscar-nominated film, Jojo Rabbit. She was also cast in three Amazon Prime Video productions: The Romanoffs as Tatiana Romanov, Lore as Dahlia, and as Louisa Pembroke in Carnival Row, all during her two-year study at PFS. Her Prague credits all helped to land an agent in London where she is now based.
Olivia Coyle (2019) was cast in a supporting role that appeared in two episodes of Carnival Row from Amazon Prime Video while studying at PFS.
Anssi Lindstrom (2016) was cast directly out of school in Child 44, starring Tom Hardy & Gary Oldman. After his work on the film he was signed with his first agent and soon after appeared in NBC's Crossing Lines, various short films, and even got selected to Cannes "Talent Corner" in 2016 which celebrates and promotes young actors who have had a promising starts to their careers.
Karin Torbjörnsdóttir (2019) was cast in The History Channel’s Nightfall immediately after graduating from PFS. She also landed a role in the upcoming A Boy Called Christmas, starring Kristen Wiig and Sally Hawkins.
Peter Hallin (2012) got his his first feature film role in Snowpiercer while studying at PFS in 2012. There he can be seen sharing scenes with the likes of Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Jamie Bell. Peter, now based in his native Sweden, went on to land a feature role in the series Crossing Lines and made an appearance in the Swedish crime drama The Bridge.
Martina Hemmingsson (2016) was accepted to the Bachelor's Program at the Malmö Theatre Academy in Sweden following her studies at Prague Film School. This prestigious academy accepts 12 acting students out of 800 applicants.
