Marc Van de Walle
The Pathfinder Joint International BA in Film – A European Model for Collaborative Film Education
The Pathfinder Joint International BA in Film is a pioneering joint degree designed by the eight partner institutions of the FilmEU Alliance — seven of which are CILECT schools. It is currently delivered by four institutions: IADT (Ireland), Lusófona University (Portugal), LUCA School of Arts (Belgium), and NATFA (Bulgaria), with two associate partners, VŠMU (Slovakia) and LMTA (Lithuania). The other designing partners are BFM (Estonia) and VIA University College (Denmark).
Pathfinder offers students a fully transnational filmmaking education, combining creative practice, critical inquiry, sustainability, and artistic research. Students study across multiple European contexts, engaging with diverse cinematic traditions, hybrid teaching, and collaborative international productions.
This talk explores how Pathfinder was co-created and is jointly delivered across multiple institutions, addressing the pedagogical, administrative, and cultural challenges of designing a shared European degree. It demonstrates how harmonised assessment, joint governance, and collaborative curriculum design contribute to FilmEU’s wider ambition — to establish a European University for Film and Media Arts that fosters innovation, inclusivity, and cross-border collaboration. Pathfinder represents a new step in European film education — blending hybrid and on-campus learning to shape the next generation of globally minded filmmakers.
Marc Van de Walle is a Senior Lecturer at LUCA, Brussels, where he teaches editing, directing, and storytelling. He is the content supervisor for the fictional shorts program and tutors the Documentary Graduation Project. Marc has worked as editor for European and U.S. television stations. As former Course Director of the BA Film Department, he has coached 33 trainers and over 300 undergraduate students. Since 2017 he is Vice-Dean of Undergraduate Programs. He is also on the Steering Committee of FilmEU, where he oversees a wide range of work packages, from curriculum design to quality assurance. He is Pathfinder’s Course Director for LUCA.