In a Hollywood ending to their long struggle for official recognition, scholars of the silver screen won unanimous approval from the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) Wednesday for an undergraduate concentration in film studies.

The new honors-only 14-course track, to be offered within the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies (VES), will make its debut this fall, likely accompanied by an expanded cast of film-focused faculty.

Because film studies will be part of VES rather than an independent department, the concentration proposal will not need approval by the full Faculty, said Chair of the Department of Germanic Literatures and Languages Eric Rentschler.

“It’s a done deal,” said Rentschler, a member of the EPC, which includes administrators as well as faculty representatives.

Rentschler, who helped orchestrate the effort to launch the film studies track, predicted an outpouring of student interest in the newly-formed concentration.

But he noted that under VES rules, prospective film studies concentrators will first have to complete a course in the field and receive an A grade.

Professor of VES Giuliana Bruno, the department’s only senior faculty member with a focus on film studies, hailed the EPC’s decision as a “wonderful moment” for Harvard.

“Traditionally, cinema studies in many universities are very often attached to literature departments, which is a more conservative way to see film as an offspring of the narrative,” Bruno said. “For Harvard to recognize finally the study of film as a creative tradition—not in a department of literature but in a department of art—is a forward-looking move.”

The film studies concentration also signals an expansion of VES’ domain, Rentschler said.

“VES is a department that historically has been involved in hands-on creative activity,” Rentschler said.

Whereas VES already includes students who focus on filmmaking, Rentschler said that film studies would “involve thinking about and reflecting on artistic endeavor.”

The proposal for the new track, which was developed by an 11-member faculty working group, allows concentrators broad opportunities to pursue interdisciplinary work.

Concentrators will be required to complete two to three courses outside of VES that do not emphasize film-related subjects, but that complement their departmental work.

According to Cavell Curator of the Harvard Film Archive (HFA) Bruce Jenkins, these could run the gamut from philosophy and literary theory to hard science classes for students who seek to explore mathematical models behind cinema.

“Stop for a moment and think about how much of contemporary life is of a piece with the moving image,” Jenkins said.