Noted scholar and filmmaker previously headed up Colorado Film School

Frederic Lahey, prominent scholar, filmmaker and former head of the Colorado Film School, has been named the inaugural director of Cleveland State University’s School of Film, Television and Interactive Media. Lahey will direct operations, strategy, academic development and fundraising for the institution, which is the first stand-alone film school in the state of Ohio and one of the few between the East and West Coasts.

“As the founding director of the Colorado Film School, Frederic Lahey built the organization into one of the most prominent film schools in the nation, with a focus on experiential learning and industry engagement,” notes Greg Sadlek, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at CSU. “He is the perfect choice to assist us in creating an innovative and engaging academic program that will produce the next generation of film, television and media professionals.”

“Film has been my lifelong passion and I have dedicated my career to transferring that love and enthusiasm on to the next generation,” Lahey notes. “This new role at CSU provides the opportunity to develop an innovative and technologically advanced film school for the 21^st Century. I am also looking forward to engaging with and enhancing Cleveland’s booming film and artistic community.”

Lahey served as director of the Colorado Film School from 1992 to 2016. During that time he transformed it from a small academic program into one of the most respected film schools in the nation. It was named by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the Top 25 Film Schools in the United States for four consecutive years, from 2011 to 2015. Lahey is also a prominent writer, director and producer whose film and video company, Oneiric Films, has received multiple Telly Awards, an International Business Stevie award and a Platinum Pixie for excellence in animation.

The CSU School of Film, Television, and Interactive Media was announced in April, 2016 thanks to a $7.5 million appropriation from the state of Ohio. Earlier this year, the university announced a partnership with ideastream, Cleveland’s public broadcasting station, to house the film school on the sixth floor of the station’s Idea Center located in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square district. It will feature high tech teaching laboratories, digital editing bays, smart classrooms, and access to additional facilities in the Idea Center. It is scheduled to open during the 2018-19 academic year.

###