Flash sintering has recently been used to sinter various bulk ceramics under reduced sintering temperatures and sintering time by applying an electric field across the sample. In this work, we have demonstrated field-assisted heating of 10 mol% Gd-doped CeO2 thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition. Microstructure analysis revealed the elongated grains aligned in the out-of-plane direction which is perpendicular to the direction of electric field. The overall microstructure of the flash-heated thin film also contained a matrix of porous and clustered regions, which are distributed throughout the thin film from the anode to cathode electrode regions. The flash-heated thin film showed significantly different conductivity and optical permittivity compared to the as-grown thin films. This demonstration suggests a feasible approach for post-deposition synthesis of thin films using field-assisted heating toward novel morphologies and properties.