By Desa Philadelphia

February 4th marked the 95th anniversary of the launch of Introduction to Photoplay, the class that would launch the film studies program at USC, the first at an American university. The class was taught by 1929 celebrities like Irving Thalberg, Ernst Lubitsch, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks, the first President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Fairbanks thought that in addition to establishing an awards show, the Academy should promote film studies. That’s how it came to be that the School of Cinematic Arts was founded just three months before the first Oscars.

As the School barrels towards its centenary, here’s a look back at some of the stories that highlight how far it has come:

In Motion cover story celebrating 90 years of SCA.

Annenberg Learner American Cinema series: The Film School Generation — George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and others talk about what it was like to be at USC in the 60s.

SCA 75th Anniversary Documentary