The Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC) is an educational centre where the disciplines necessary for the training of future film and audiovisual professionals are taught with the utmost rigour and quality.
As a centre affiliated to the University of Barcelona, ESCAC meets the highest standards of educational quality required by the AQU (Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia).
Our pedagogical system is based on four pillars:
–Learning by doing: we want students to learn by doing, based on their own mistakes and successes.
– Challenge-based learning: we put students at the centre of the process through experiential learning, placing them in front of real-world cases and challenges that allow them to develop the necessary skills to manage in a constantly changing world.
– Project work: students collaborate with each other and thus contribute to a common project, developing the ability to work in cross-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and multicultural teams.
– Academic learning: students acquire the knowledge and methodologies that enable them to develop and transmit their own discourse based on research into theoretical and audiovisual texts on a theme, author or trend.
They will be accompanied by the best working professionals in the sector and will allow them to develop their talent in an environment where creative spaces and interaction between students from different promotions and programmes are promoted.
Founded by Josep Maixenchs (Terrassa 1943 -2018), the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya was born in Barcelona in 1993 from the Image and Sound studies of the Centre Calassanç de Formación Profesional. The main objective of the Foundation was to design and put into operation the first audiovisual teaching centre in Spain, of a higher education nature and with a university degree. The ESCAC was attached to the University of Barcelona and the degree of Graduate in Film and Audiovisuals was born.
In 2003 it left its headquarters in the Escuelas Pías de Sarriá building and moved to the city of Terrassa, where it has grown to occupy the 3 buildings in Plaça Farinera and the Vapor Universitari building.
The school has been adapting to the needs of industry and student demand and in 2003, in addition to the Bachelor’s Degree, it created a programme of different Master’s Degrees, Postgraduate Degrees and technical schools. This offer started in 30 m² classrooms in Barcelona with 2 courses and nowadays we offer more than 25 different programmes.
No one is thinking of secondary school pupils finishing their compulsory education without knowing how to read, write and multiply….. But what about audiovisual skills? In the 21st century, it is essential to bring audiovisual narrative into the classroom.
In 2017, ESCAC launched the Cine Base project, a programme that aims to implement audiovisual narrative as a basic, indispensable and commonly used skill in the education of all students in our country. We train teachers, assist them in the classroom and offer summer courses aimed at the youngest students.
Escac Films, ESCAC’s academic production company, manages and coordinates the Final Degree Projects (TFG), the Speciality Master’s Final Projects (TFM) and those of the Master’s Degree in Film Directing, in all their phases, from development to exploitation and promotion, with the aim of professionalising the working methodology of academic productions.
At ESCAC we have a long history and several programmes carried out with the aim of encouraging new creators to develop their stories and begin to enter the job market, always from a broad perspective and including both former students of our school and external people who come here for the first time.
ESCAC has successfully achieved one of its founding purposes: the search for and promotion of talent, as demonstrated by the careers of our graduates.
Moreover, with the emergence of audiovisual platforms and the high demand for content, our alumni have a 92% employment rate, not only as team leaders but also in specialist and technical positions throughout the professional chain.