The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 38 students from 17 U.S. colleges and universities, as well as nine students from foreign universities, have been selected as finalists in’ Student Academy Awards competition. Winners will be brought to Los Angeles for a week of industry activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony at 7:30 p.m. June 8, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):
Alternative
Beyond the Spheres, Meghdad Asadi Lari, Rochester Institute of Technology
Bottled Up, Rafael Cortina, Occidental College
Bye Hyungjik, Hyungjik Lee, Florida State University
The Compositor, John Mattiuzzi, School of Visual Arts
File Not Found, Maria Sequeira, University of Southern California
The Pirate of Love, Sara Gunnarsdottir, California Institute of the Arts
Zug, Perry Janes, University of Michigan
Animation
Couch & Potatoes, Chris Lam and Eunsoo Jeong, San Jose State University
Dia de los Muertos, Lindsey St. Pierre and Ashley Graham, Ringling College of Art and Design
Drifters, Ethan Clarke, California Institute of the Arts
Make a Wish, Heejin Kim, School of Visual Arts
Peck Pocketed, Kevin Herron, Ringling College of Art and Design
Runaway, Emily Buchanan and Esther Parobek, Ringling College of Art and Design
Still I Breathe, Sang Ho Lee, School of Visual Arts
Watercolors, Robert Kornstein, New York University
Will, Eusong Lee, California Institute of the Arts
Documentary
The Battle of the Jazz Guitarist, Mark Columbus, University of California, Los Angeles
Every Tuesday: A Portrait of The New Yorker Cartoonists, Rachel Loube, School of Visual Arts
Everybody’s Business, Laura Green, Stanford University
Graceland Girls, Jordan Theresa Salvatoriello, Emerson College
A Second Chance, David Aristizabal, University of Southern California
Through the Fire, Eunice Lau, New York University
Vultures of Tibet, Russell O. Bush, University of Texas at Austin
Win or Lose, Daniel Koehler, Elon University
Wonder Workshop, Amitabh Joshi and Erik Spink, School of Visual Arts
Narrative
Caught, Bruce Li, New York University
Cootie Contagion, Joshua Smooha, Florida State University
Footsteps, Thomas (Hyungkyun) Kim, New York University
Josephine and the Roach, Jonathan Langager, University of Southern California
Kalifornija, Tomas Vengris, American Film Institute
The Midwife’s Husband, Deja Bernhardt, University of Texas at Austin
Ol’ Daddy, Brian Schwarz, University of Texas at Austin
Samnang, Asaph Polonsky, American Film Institute
Un Mundo para Raúl (A World for Raúl), Mauro Mueller, Columbia University
Foreign Film
Erbgut (Liquidation), Matthias Zuder, Hamburg Media School, Germany
För Sverige i Tiden (King of Sweden), Jonas Westbom, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden
Kanyekanye, Miklas Manneke, AFDA The South African School of Motion Picture Medium Live Performance, South Africa
The Library of Burned Books, Alasdair Beckett-King, London Film School, United Kingdom
Miss Todd, Kristina Yee, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
MO, Jakub Kouril, FAMU, Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic
Parvaneh,Talkhon Hamzavi, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
To Guard a Mountain, Izer Aliu, The Norwegian Filmschool, Norway
Tweesprong (Crossroads), Wouter Bouvijn, Rits School of Arts, Erasmus College Brussels, Belgium
To reach this stage, U.S. students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region is permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalists in each of the four categories. The Student Academy Awards Executive Committee screened and voted on the finalists in the Foreign Film category.
The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight awards. Notable alums include John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, Trey Parker and Spike Lee.
