Documentary Filmmaking at New York Film Academy
NYFA’s documentary program operates from campuses in New York and Los Angeles, offering pathways through an MFA in Documentary Filmmaking in LA and a BFA in Entertainment Media with documentary concentration in New York. The curriculum prioritizes capturing real subjects, locations, and events rather than staged scenarios, which means students spend most of their time in the field developing observational skills and learning how to build trust with documentary subjects while managing the technical demands of location shooting.
Beyond traditional feature-length documentaries and docuseries, students of New York Film Academy work across formats including micro-documentaries and social media content—acknowledging that documentary storytelling now reaches audiences through various platforms, each requiring different pacing and structural approaches. This breadth prepares them to adapt their observational techniques depending on where the final work will appear and how viewers typically engage with content in that context.
The program attracts international students whose diverse backgrounds influence how they frame subjects and construct narratives, creating an environment where different documentary traditions inform collaborative projects. Under mentorship from working documentary filmmakers, students produce short films and projects that reflect their individual perspectives while developing the technical proficiency and ethical awareness that documentary work demands.
Program Degrees
The MFA offers an accelerated two-year graduate curriculum designed as an intensive immersion experience for those committed to documentary practice. The BFA provides broader entertainment media training that incorporates humanities coursework alongside specialized focus on documentary craft, giving students a foundation in both storytelling fundamentals and the specific considerations that distinguish nonfiction filmmaking from other narrative forms.
