VCUarts Cinema

Check out the electives the VCUarts Cinema Program is offering for Summer and Fall 2026! 🎥✨ ☀️ SUMMER 2026 📝 Intro to Screenwriting @vcuartsphotofilm - required course for film concentrations and elective option for animation minors 🎭 for @vcuartstheatre - Acting For Film Intensive 🍁 FALL 2026 CINEMA MAJOR ELECTIVES 🎬 Titles & Trailers 🎨 Hermeneutics & Art 💭 Reality Bites ✍️ Foundations of Screenwriting 📃 Advanced Screenwriting Seminar OPEN TO SOME MAJORS 🎭 Directing: Blocking Actors Open for Cinema, Comm Arts, Kinetic Imaging, and Photo+Film Majors! 💡 Technical Lighting Open for Cinema, Kinetic Imaging & Photography + Film Majors! 🎥 Alexa Camera System Open for Cinema, Kinetic Imaging & Photography + Film Majors! 🎬 Directing in Motion Open for Cinema & Photography + Film Majors! Browse and register for available classes today! 💫 - @vcuarts

We all make mistakes, but the best ones are on camera! 🎥 Watch the full video with the link in our bio.

Scene 1, Take 1. 🎬 Watch VCUarts Cinema freshman talk about their first semester in the program. Use the link in our bio to watch the full video.

📣Check it out! VCUarts Cinema professor Danny Caporalleti was featured on @cbs6 Richmond! Caporalleti shares his experiences with the Cinema program, filmmaking in the Richmond community, and the creation of “Griffin in Summer,” the feature film he worked on as Assistant Director. On working with executive producer Fred Bryant, Caporalleti says,“Richmond was a huge part of what made this movie have its very specific character. I think we knew when we were making the movie that it was going to be good.” 🔗 Use the link in our bio to read more! - @vcuarts @caporalettifilms

Join us tomorrow night for a screening of “Saturnalia,” a 1970s-set horror film, an homage to the Italian Giallo films of that era, produced by Cinema Adjunct Professor, Vivian Owen. 🎥”The horror film is set in 1979 at the prestigious Alstroemerias Academy, a preparatory school for America’s elite orphaned children where Miriam Basconi has been sent. Knowing that something isn’t right at the academy, she sets out to discover what is happening to her fellow students behind closed doors – and finds more than she bargained for.” Saturnalia’s cast and crew has 10 of Cinema’s adjunct professors and 10 VCUarts alumni. In the article, Owen shares, “Four of us on the film were teaching at VCU at the time of filming. Because I was involved with VCU when we started our project, I looked to the Cinema program to begin filling any holes and gaps in the crew list.” 🔗To learn more about the film, use the link in our bio! Saturnalia is screening Thursday, April 9th at the Institute of Contemporary Art and will feature a Q & A with VCU professor Danny Caporaletti and RVA-based crewmembers Max Fischer (Cinematographer and Producer) and producer Vivian Owen. - @vcuarts @icavcu @saturnalia_film @vrowen @maxxfish7 @caporalettifilms

VCUarts Cinema is now offering a Minor in Screenwriting! ✍️✨ The Minor in Screenwriting offers a focused, interdisciplinary program designed to develop students’ skills in writing for the screen, stage, and emerging media. This minor addresses the growing demand for high-quality writing and storytelling instruction with the aim to nurture the next generation of visual storytellers across all disciplines. 🎥 Understand and apply dramatic structure across media. 🎥 Write original scripts for short films, feature films, plays, or episodic formats. 🎥 Refine revision skills through workshops and faculty feedback. 🎥 Gain confidence in pitching their work for production or publication. With the entertainment and media industries increasingly embracing global and innovative production models, there is a critical need for unique voices in screenwriting, narrative designing, and visual storytelling with training in story structure and character development. ✅ Application Deadline: Saturday, April 25th Open to ALL VCU students! 🔗 Click the link in our bio to learn more about the application process. - @vcuarts

Richmond filmmakers are taking over @icavcu this April 🎬 In partnership with @vcuartscinema New Richmond Filmmakers celebrates the bold work coming out of RVA's film scene. Each screening is followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and VCU Cinema faculty. Learn more about the screenings below: 📅 Wed, Apr 1 | 6 to 9 pm Mom, I'm on Drugs (dir. Ken Brisby @ken_brisby ) Mom, I’m on Drugs follows the journey of a punk whose night out turns into a terrifying hero’s journey. 📅 Fri, Apr 3 | 6 to 9 pm (First Friday) Removal of the Eye (dir. Prashanth Kamalakanthan (@pk.mov ) + Artemis Shaw @artemoula ) The lives of sleep-deprived parents Kallia and Ram take a surreal turn when Kallia’s mother demands an exorcism is performed on their baby. 📅 Thu, Apr 9 | 6 to 9 pm Saturnalia (dir. Daniel John Lerch) A giallo-inspired supernatural thriller scored by Claudio Simonetti of Goblin. Images: 1. still, Saturnalia 2. still, Mom, I'm On Drugs 3. still, Removal of the Eye

Join us for The Cinema Student Showcase which will take place at the VMFA at Reynolds Lecture Hall as part of the James River Film Festival on Sunday, March 29th, 2026. 🎬 🗓️ Sunday, March 29th ⏰ 11:30 am - 1:00 pm 📍 VMFA, Reynolds Lecture Hall (200 N Arthur Ashe Blvd) 🎟️ $5 (link in bio to purchase) These films were produced in the Summer 2025 Intensive, almost 50 students brought their scripts to life with the help of faculty mentorship. Film Program: “Cross My Heart” (Joy Sharpe, 10:41) “In The Way” (Heath Russell, 16:21) “Mama’s Roots” (Alexander Scott, 15:47) “No Funny Business” (Madi Aragon, 14:26) - @vcuarts @jamesriverfilmsociety @vmfamuseum

📣Check it out! The 2025 year-end issue of Film Quarterly, edited by Professor J.M. Tyree is out now! This issue features articles discussing Sinners and Andor, and an interview with Janus Metz, co-director of Andor. Thanks to VCU Libraries, Film Quarterly is available to read for free on any VCU network! Read the full issue with the link in the bio! 🔗 - @vcuarts @filmquarterly

VCUarts Cinema is pleased to host a screening of Common Ground, at the ICA as part of The Richmond Environmental Film Festival. 🗓️ Friday, February 27th ⏰ 5:30 pm 📍 ICA 🎥The film profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy – before it’s too late. 🌎 The annual RVA Environmental Film Festival raises awareness of environmental issues relevant to Richmond, Virginia, our nation and our planet. The 2026 festival features films from February 21st - March 7th. - @vcuarts @rvaeff

Meet Angel Hasley, a second year Cinema student and participant of the VCU Summer 2025: Beyond the Frame in Morocco ✈️🎬 The program took place in the dynamic city of Marrakech and the Agafay Desert, where students adapted and filmed scenes from Love in Two Languages by Abdelkébir Khatibi while working alongside local filmmakers and creatives. In addition to these collaborative scenes, students developed and shot their own literary adaptations, selecting texts ranging from well-known works to more obscure and personal pieces. Upon returning to Richmond, students completed post-production at VCU, editing their films while reflecting critically on the creative and cultural process of adaptation. 🗓️ Program Dates: June 23rd – July 1st, 2026 ✅ Application Deadline: March 15th, 2026 This is an incredible opportunity, you won’t want to miss! 🔗Click the link in our bio to learn more and apply! Amazing work, Angel (@lilwings64 )! 🤩 - @vcuarts

Thank you to everyone who attended our 2025 Summer Intensive Screening! Such amazing films! 💙 We are so proud of all of our staff, students, and faculty for their hard work! 👏 ➡️ Swipe to see pictures from the event! - @vcuarts