By Lookout Staff

August 28, 2026 -- For the third straight year, MovieMaker Magazine named Santa Monica College (SMC) among the top 30 film schools in the U.S. and Canada, school officials announced Wednesday.

The community college's 15-year-old film program joined the AFI Conservatory, Columbia University, NYU and UCLA among the schools that made the prestigious movie trade quarterly' annual list.

This year marks SMC’s fourth appearance on the list, which "recognizes schools that prepare students for every aspect of filmmaking," SMC officials said. This year's list includes 32 institutions due to ties.

“This distinction validates the unique approach of our program," said Salvador Carasco, SMC film production faculty lead. "Our faculty is composed of professional filmmakers who are actively teaching, challenging, and helping our students achieve what they set out to do with rigorous on-set guidance and mentorship.

"Rather than send out students to film on their own, SMC’s approach ensures that when students graduate from our program they count on role models to emulate in terms of working methodology, safety procedures, and high-standard results expressed in films that say something meaningful about the complex world we live in.”

Since the program's launch in the fall of 2010, eight SMC student films have been selected for and won accolades at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival, including 2021’s Best Student Film winner “Broken Layers.”

The first short produced by the program, “Solidarity,” is now a feature film directed by SMC alum Dustin Brown and executive produced by Darren Aronofsky and Carrasco, with many students involved in its making. The film had its world premiere in June at the Dances With Films: Los Angeles (DWF:LA) at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood.

SMC student films have also won awards at numerous regional, national, and international film festivals including film festivals in Ojai, Vienna, Mexico, Houston, San Diego, Munich and Prague.

In addition, the film program has received production grants from The Golden Globe Foundation (formerly known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), co-production sponsorships from Keslow Camera and Roundabout Entertainment, and the Next Generation Indie Film Awards Foundation.

SMC offers an Associate of Science degree and Certificate of Achievement in Film Production. To learn more, visit smc.edu/film or email Carrasco_Salvador@smc.edu. The films made in the program can be viewed on youtube.com/@SMC-FilmProgram