TFS Named one of 30 Best Film Schools in U.S. & Canada by MovieMaker Magazine
Toronto Film School has been named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada for the seventh year in a row.
In compiling this year’s list – which includes world-renowned institutions such as USC, NYU, and the AFI Conservatory, to name a few – MovieMaker Editor-in-Chief Tim Molloy said his Los Angeles-based publication started with a simple question: What schools will help aspiring filmmakers break into the industry?
“Many excellent schools teach film history and theory, but the ones on this list especially highlight hands-on filmmaking experience that can help you survive in a famously tough field,” he wrote in this year’s list.
Toronto Film School (TFS) was once singled out for inclusion by MovieMaker for “holding itself to the highest standard: How well its students succeed in the real world.”
“TFS appears on our list year after year not only because of its location in one of the greatest film cities in the world, but because of the results-oriented, uncompromisingly high standards the school sets for itself,” Molloy said.
“It’s never content to just graduate students – TFS is committed to making sure they can find employment and excel in one of the most famously competitive of all industries. That’s something all students should require of a film school, especially in these trying times for the industry.”
That praise came as little surprise to TFS President Andrew Barnsley.
“We’re a boots-on-the-ground type of school,” said the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Executive Producer of such hits as Schitt’s Creek, Son of a Critch, and Jann. “All of our programs have been designed to prepare students for the realities of working in the creative field. No sugarcoating.”
In this year’s listing, MovieMaker lauded TFS for its central downtown location in “one of the world’s major film hubs”, its faculty comprised of “top industry professionals,” and its annual TFS FEST event at the TIFF Lightbox.
The magazine also pointed to TFS’s downtown studio campus and its ample supply of industry-grade equipment – which includes the recent $2.5 million investment in new, state-of-the-art cameras including ARRI Alexa Mini and Alexa Mini LF, Sony FX6 and FX3, and Sony a7III DSLR 4K.
This year marks TFS’s seventh consecutive year making the MovieMaker cut – having previously been singled out in 2024, 2023, 2021 and 2019 in the magazine’s Outstanding Production Training category for its flagship, 18-month Film Production program. In 2020 and 2022, TFS made the magazine’s list in the Outstanding Screenwriting Training category in recognition of its Writing for Film & Television program.
Read MovieMaker’s full write-up about TFS in its 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada in 2025 listing here: https://www.moviemaker.com/best-film-schools-us-and-canada-2025
