turanfly

For context I'm in an MA now and starting my PhD in the Fall.
Have you done a Masters in film studies? If not, I would recommend trying to apply to (what few there are) funded MAs. I think USC offers some students partial funding and some full and maybe UW and Toronto ? Anyone know of others? 
You will hear a lot of people warn of humanities PhDs not being worth it or that the job market is abysmal. My #1 advice is to arrive at a personal decision about what matters to you. I realized that while all those warnings are sound, none of those people could actually offer me or point me to an alternative that would make me happier. All of the constituent parts of doing a degree are things I love: reading, writing, exploring new topics just for the sake of it, being in dialogue with peers and faculty, etc. There are of course things I don't and won't like, but I've also worked a desk job and know that this path is really better for me for now. Yes, the job market is horrible, but knowing that I have years of funding and license to study what I love for 5+ years feels like a really huge and amazing win for me right now. Some corners of academia are really distorted and toxic, for sure. But so are so many workplaces. We don't even know what world we will have in 5 years, and I'm just really happy to take it one step at a time. 
So, all this is to say, you need to make peace with the question of why you want to do a PhD. What do you want to get from the experience? If you fall more in the area of wanting the experience in and of itself, I would encourage you to keep researching and searching for the places that you think would be able to offer that. If you fall more in the area of wanting some kind of outcome, I would probably not pursue a PhD.
If you are struggling to get in touch with current students, try reaching out to the department coordinator and saying that you are a prospective student hoping to have an informal chat with someone in the program. They may be able to help connect you with someone more easily than just cold outreach to someone on the webpage.
I hope some of this is helpful to you!

I had a similar conversation with my undergrad advisor back when I was in my second year. I am currently in a master's program for some perspective. I never brought up my interest early on  in eventually applying to phd programs, but my prof could tell i was very intellectually interested in film studies. So when I did eventually tell him, he wasnt surprised though he did give the caveat that he would never advocate for anyone to get a PhD in this academic climate. That said, he has been encouraging and was one of my letter rec writers when i was applying to master's programs. 
 
I think after seeing my full intellectual growth, he seems more supportive and encouraging  in my interest in applying to PhD programs. I have other friends who are currently in PhD programs and/or just recently graduated, and they've all been pretty honest about the harsh realities of attending. Mind you, they are in top ivy league/ivy league level programs and even then, they seem to paint a very drastic picture of what it means to actually attend. My friend who just graduated from MIT a year ago is currently doing his post-doc in Europe, and he has had trouble getting any job interviews. 
 
Like most humanities programs, film studies is very interdisciplinary meaning anyone hypothetically could apply to a PhD program in film studies. One of the professors in my undergrad film department did her undergrad and masters in a STEM related field but ultimately moved to film. This was probably uncommon during her time but not quite so these days. Because of this growing trend of interdisciplinary work in the humanities, we're seeing an influx of applications in nearly every films studies program. And mind you, this is already competitive when the top programs are accepting 3-5 students per cycle. 
 
At this point, it really is a big responsibility of the applicant to be as informed as possible of the pros/cons of attending given that a doctorate/graduating from the best program does not equate to receiving a job in academia. But I do think this needs to be stressed. I have not seen this specifically in film studies, but in other forums online, there are always a couple stories of students being in denial of being unable to attain a job in the months after they receive their doctorate. I do question whether these kinds of students were responsible enough to really do their hw and see the harsh reality of academic life... 

I concur with pretty much everyone's responses that have commented on this. Deciding to pursue a PhD is not a light issue. And if you intend to get a job in academia, you should know that may not be necessarily possible. On that note, some people pursue PhD's in Film and Media studies and may have other career options in mind. A person from my Master's program is doing their PhD at a "top program," which also gives them the resources to work on their own films and publish their own film criticism. They are not necessarily in interested in becoming a tenured professor, but instead want to get paid to do research so they can also publish in non-academic journals. I also know people who have opted out of academia after getting tenure-track faculty jobs and decided to become an editor at a journal. 
All in all, I would really consider what you're doing. For me, I have also been in the working world and have worked a day job, and nothing has been as fulfilling for me as academic writing and research, so I enter my PhD program knowing full well about the difficult employment options.
This has been a tough year for admissions, and we are also uncertain of academia's future. So this climate is particularly difficult. I know people who have found jobs during the pandemic, and I know others who are struggling. It is my hope that this pandemic situation is temporary and things will go back to normal, but of course, we don't know for sure how things will change since academic institutions have taken a hard hit. 
Anyway, those are just some thoughts that I have. I have a ton more! But I do agree with other people, it's not a light decision.