New York Film Academy Commences its Fourth Decade with a

New York, NY, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This year, New York Film Academy (“NYFA”) re-introduces itself with a modern, refreshed look. In 1992, veteran Hollywood producer Jerry Sherlock had a vision to create a film school that offered short-term, hands-on filmmaking workshops for students looking for a total immersion into the world of filmmaking while learning from working industry professionals. Jerry initially founded the New York Film Academy at Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Film Center in New York City with the help of current NYFA President Michael J. Young and Mitko Panov, winner of Cannes Palme d’Or, who designed the original curriculum. The school quickly expanded its offerings to include industry-related disciplines such as Acting for Film, Cinematography, Screenwriting, and more, growing its programs to 1-Year and 2-Year certificate programs, and enrollment from a global audience exploded. 

Originating in New York City, NYFA now encompasses campuses in Los Angeles, Miami, Australia, and Italy, as well as satellite locations around the world. Consequently, “New York” “Film” Academy no longer accurately represents NYFA’s current offerings and potential. While the school will never lose its roots as the original hands-on intensive film school, it now offers an array of programs in Film Arts, Media Arts, and Performing Arts with locations around the world.

“Words cannot express how thrilled we all are to celebrate thirty years since NYFA’s inception. Our students, alums, faculty, and staff continue to amaze me with their dedication to visual storytelling. Many of our faculty have been with NYFA since the beginning. Looking back, it’s unbelievable how quickly we’ve grown and how much we’ve diversified as a school,” says NYFA’s President, Michael J. Young. “This new image reflects NYFA’s evolution and commitment to educating the next generation of film, media, and performing artists.” 

NYFA’s new image includes more prominent usage of its acronym in a contemporary font, which represents its campus not only in New York but its campuses in Miami, Los Angeles, Australia, and Italy, as well as the school’s satellite locations. NYFA also now categorizes its disciplines under three primary areas of study: Film Arts, Media Arts, and Performing Arts. The new look features a refreshed color scheme – retaining its original black and white branding, we now see the former red accent replaced with accents of magenta, cyan, and yellow for each area of study. 

Accompanying the refreshed look is a new website, including an organized and structured backend architecture, user-friendly and sleek front-end design, and hyper-fast functionality optimized for both desktop and mobile devices. 

NYFA offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificate programs, short-term intensive workshops, as well as teens and kids camps. Programs are offered either online or on NYFA’s campuses around the world. Despite the school’s rapid growth and expansion, the school’s leadership remains dedicated to keeping Jerry Sherlock's original vision alive to make film, media, and performing arts education accessible to the most diverse, international, and broadest possible spectrum of students who learn by doing under the guidance of its industry professional instructors.

For more than three decades, NYFA students and alumni have made waves in the entertainment industry. From Graduate and Undergraduate Degrees to Youth Programs, NYFA alumni like Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Manuel Garcia Rulfo, and Mohamed Diab are among the many former students who have gone on to work on major film and television productions. Furthermore, these alumni have all given back to the next generation of storytellers by returning to NYFA in recent years to talk to students and offer their guidance in preparation for a demanding but rewarding industry.

“I absolutely fell in love with NYFA’s way of teaching and hands-on experience. I love all of the experiences that NYFA gives to all of its students. I was able to meet so many amazing people from the industry and attend so many film festivals because of NYFA, and I’m so grateful. NYFA has an incredibly supportive community of people from different backgrounds. They have students from all over the world and from different cultures, which is something I value greatly,” says Lara Minotto, BFA Filmmaking student at the Los Angeles campus.

What hasn’t changed is NYFA’s foundation. Since the beginning, administration, and faculty have prided themselves on giving students a hands-on education, incorporating film projects, stage exhibitions, and actual work that graduates take away into their professional lives. The school continues to offer studies in filmmaking, acting, producing, screenwriting, cinematography,  documentary filmmaking, musical theatre, photography, 3D animation and VFX, game design, broadcast journalism, media studies, and entertainment media. For most students, NYFA is more than a school–it’s a creative community of diverse people from many walks of life who all have a story to tell. The NYFA community provides a training ground that enables students to find themselves, their voice and go on to be the next generation of storytellers. 

Graduates from NYFA’s degree programs, certificate programs, short-term workshops, and teens and kids camps have made headlines, including screenings and awards at Sundance, Tribeca Film Festival, the Academy Awards, the Emmys, BAFTA, and the Gold Coast Film Festival, among many more.


About NYFA

NYFA is a leading film, media, and performing arts college that offers intensive undergraduate and graduate degree programs, certificates, and workshops across a multitude of areas of study in New York City, Los Angeles, South Beach/Miami, Gold Coast (Australia), Florence (Italy), Beijing (China), and more. NYFA also offers online education allowing students the opportunity to advance their creative and technical skills in “Hands-Online Workshops,” available across NYFA’s film, media, and performing arts disciplines.

NYFA is regionally accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). This accreditation extends to all NYFA campuses in the United States and overseas. For more information, please visit nyfa.edu.


New York Film Academy Commences its Fourth Decade with a