Matthew Moore: Focusing on the Students's Needs
      Matthew Moore says his position as program coordinator for Brooklyn College’s Film Department is a bit of a “catch all”.
      “I’m a liaison between the department and the faculty and students, and also between the department and the outside world,” he says.
      Wearing those multiple hats, Moore spends much of his time interacting with people in the film industry to try to gain more opportunities, including internships and production assistant positions, for the students.
      He is too modest, initially, to add that the efforts are working.
      “We have a good relationship with the American Film Institute, so we have a successful record of getting our students in there,” says Moore, who himself earned a certificate in film from Brooklyn College. “I’ve tried to raise the visibility of this program by getting our name out there, which has allowed us to attract a wider range of students.”
      Moore points out that these real world opportunities are becoming routine: one student was hired recently to work as a unit production manager for a feature film starring the multi-platinum rapper 50 Cent, and yet another student shot a feature on a band for MTV-U.
      “We absolutely prepare our students for a career in film,” Moore says.  
      In fact, enrollment in the program has risen considerably. Last year, the program enrolled some 400 students, up from 350.   
      More than half of them are international. Students can choose from among four concentrations: production (the most popular), screenwriting, film studies, and marketing. Moore adds that the program increasingly focuses on steering many    

students toward front-office positions because the film industry, thus taking advantage of the huge corporate presence of major film corporations in New York City.
      Moore has also helped raise the visibility and accessibility of the program by moving its end-of-the-year student film festival off campus to the easy-to- reach and widely known venue of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
      Moore added that film students need go no further than then the College campus opportunities to get involved in a variety of cross discipline experiences. One example of this synergy became a reality when the Early Childhood Development program in the School of Education got a grant, and film students readily helped them prepare a documentary of their program.