![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2026\/10\/Keith-Brown-1024x681.jpeg\")
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Botelho and Campbell are two of the many alumni who have gained immense success after graduating from URI\u2019s film\/media program, which is celebrating a milestone 20th<\/sup> anniversary this year. In that time, the program has morphed into a prominent degree program within the Harrington School of Communication and Media, helping aspiring filmmakers hone their craft to showcase their work on screen\u2014both big and small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s been amazing to witness the drive and creativity of our current students, but also see our alumni achieve success and make their marks within a competitive industry,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSome of them are kind of amazing in what they’re doing in film and media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Steady growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cameras at URI began rolling in 1999 when film studies was established as an interdepartmental minor growing out of the English department. Seven years later, after student interest increased, the program took a major step (pun intended) in 2006 with film\/media becoming an undergraduate major within the University\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown recalled that the film\/media program\u2019s early days were confined to tight quarters within Swan Hall on the Kingston Campus, and had limited resources to execute its mission and vision. Once the program moved into Ranger Hall\u2014the Harrington School\u2019s home\u2014collaboration and creativity began to accelerate with students using new state-of-the-art film equipment, and the program started to expand its offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n One such offering is the Narrative Film Practicum, where Brown and Assistant Film\/Media Teaching Professor Nicholas Corsano<\/a> work with students to produce a longer film during the fall semester. That process includes creating a script and casting actors before beginning filming in early November, Brown says. Come springtime, that film will premiere in a special screening at the Avon Cinema in Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was something that could have never been done in the early days because we did not have the faculty and we did not have the equipment,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe equipment has grown tremendously and we can really broaden our horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Rhody to the real world<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Filmmaker Arianna Rizzo \u201919 said taking Brown\u2019s 16-milimeter class (FLM 316) was a memorable experience, providing an immersive, supported learning opportunity to create films. Rizzo, now a lead marketing program manager for the Boston-based marketing firm Klaviyo, and her classmates learned how to shoot with different cameras, including the Arriflex Super 16\u2014used for motion pictures and designed to capture a wider, asymmetrical frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was such a unique experience working with such a cool piece of equipment. I just feel very grateful to have taken the class that Keith Brown was offering to get this experience, and to learn the hows and whys of the fundamentals we learned in classes prior,\u201d Rizzo said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before writing and directing commercial content for NBCUniversal and running his own YouTube account called \u201cThe Scrappy Creative<\/a>,\u201d Ryan Gomes \u201919 remembered how Brown fostered community in his classes at URI. He also recalled how URI film\/media\u2019s focus was about having students both being creative and prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou could make any film you wanted to make, as long as you were prepared,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cThat didn\u2019t mean being popular enough to have the biggest crew or enough money to make the biggest short film. It meant being passionate enough about your ideas that you fight for them. If you could answer all the questions that were thrown at you, then you can go off and do cool stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Sean](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2026\/10\/Campbell-Botelho-Awards-1024x774.jpeg\")
![\"Ariaana](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2026\/10\/Arianna-Rizzo-1024x683.jpeg\")
URI\u2019s film\/media alumni have fond memories of being on campus collaborating with fellow classmates on projects and also learned many lessons that they now apply in their current work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n