school year. The more prestigious institutions often invite industry executives and producers to attend. However, ambitious individuals not in film school can also pursue such opportunities on their own through cold-calling, joining film-industry-related organizations such as IFP, or submitting their work to independent film festivals. The rise and popularity of independent filmmaking and digital video have influenced this debate, as anyone with a digital camera can shoot a digital work with little formal knowledge of the industry, and can succeed or establish a following by making the work available for viewing or by publicizing it on the internet. Directors who have attended and earned degrees from film schools include Francis Ford Coppola (UCLA Film School, MFA film directing), Martin Scorsese (NYU Film School, MFA film directing), David Lynch (AFI Conservatory, MFA Film Directing), George Lucas (USC Film School, BA film directing) and Kathryn Bigelow (Columbia School of Arts, master degree in film theory and criticism). Others, such as Stanley Kubrick, Frank Capra, Pedro Almodóvar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, and Alfred Hitchcock had no formal college film training at all. Film director Werner Herzog has been quite vocal in arguing against film school. See also List of film schools List of film schools in the United States History of film Film theory Film studies Philosophy of film Wikibooks Movie Making Manual Wikiversity Wikiversity Courses in Filmmaking References External links Directory of 1200+ film schools in the US and 83 other countries at filmmaking.net AllAboutFilmSchool.com, a wiki about film schools FOCAL (Foundation for professional training in cinema and audiovisual media) International film schools database FilmSchool.org, a discussion forum about film schools with reviews from current students School types