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Putting It Together: Filmmaking in France Program
David A. Gerstner
It has been a journey, filled with ups and downs, to bring to fruition the faculty-led Filmmaking in France summer program created in concert with the College of Staten Island’s Department of Media Culture and the Center for Global Engagement. Even if by fits and starts, the rewards in putting it together have been plentiful.
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The films presented on the following pages reveal the creative and imaginative output from the students who participated in the four programs that ran in 2016 and 2018 (University of Tours) and in 2023 and 2025 (EICAR International Film School in Paris). It has been my pleasure to work with such a smart and dedicated group of students. This is the story of how we got here.
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William Fritz (Provost at the time, and then President of the College of Staten Island) was an early and enthusiastic supporter of my idea to direct a faculty-led study-abroad program in France. He funded the initial steps to set things in motion and, importantly, he supported the pedagogical framework I had put in place.
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It was not an easy plan to pull off given the complexities of any study-abroad program as well as the certain and inevitable internal hurdles one must overcome. Nevertheless, I made my first visit to a film school in Paris in 2010. Serendipitously (and we will see why), the school I visited was EICAR. I was aware of the school since a colleague I met in 2005 at a Marcel Duchamp symposium in Orléans was an instructor there. At the time, EICAR was a small institution located in St. Denis in Paris.
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There was, however, trepidation on both parties about just how to develop a ‘workable’ partnership between CSI and EICAR. Running a filmmaking program overseas is no easy matter—a matter of concern for both parties. Who would fund it? Was it an exchange program? Would enough CSI students be interested in traveling to France to study and make film? How would such a program benefit EICAR and its students?
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For five years, with these questions not-so easy to answer, my idea for the faculty-led program remained in limbo. My hope to create a partnership and summer program in France seemed to lose ground. Three people arrived on scene in 2015 to relight the embers for the project: Stephen Ferst, the Executive Director for what is now called the Center for Global Engagement at CSI (CGE); Mathieu Fournet, then-Director of Film and Media Studies at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy (now Villa Albertine); and, directly and indirectly, French filmmaker, Christophe Honoré.​
​​When I first met Stephen, his encouraging energy and his connections in the world of study abroad, he helped to move things quickly. He facilitated details necessary to organize the faculty-led program I had imagined over the past few years. For instance, he knew what grants to secure and what partnerships could be made to support the endeavor. This is when our partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy (now Villa Albertine) were formed with Mathieu Fournet.
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Together, with Stephen taking the lead, we applied for a Trans-Atlantic Mobility Program Grant. We got it! It was a hefty financial boon for the French film program we envisaged and the outcomes we planned to achieve. We will always be grateful to Mathieu and his colleague Amélie Garin-Davet for their unyielding support during the process. At CGE, Stephen’s colleague, Lucy Amon, put tremendous effort in getting the program up-and-running.
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Honoré had a less direct but nonetheless important role in getting the program up and running. I step back a few months prior to receiving the Trans-Atlantic Mobility Program Grant. Around 2014, I had recently come to know the director when my friend (Julien Nahmias) and I completed the first English-language book dedicated to Honoré’s films. Honoré was beyond generous in supporting our book, especially with the in-depth interview he provided.
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As it turns out, I was then invited to a “Christophe Honoré” conference in Tours in 2015. It was a terrific and satisfying experience, both intellectually and as a crucial networking experience. The colleagues and students I met at the University of Tours were wonderful hosts. They took great care in assembling a marvelous group of Honoré scholars. While there I met colleagues and students with whom I remain in touch. All told, Tours opened many doors for the Filmmaking in France Program. (I recommend a visit to Tours when you visit France).
