Beverly Hills, Calif. – Thirteen students from 10 U.S. colleges and universities have been named winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 37th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Academy members will view these films at special screenings and vote to determine the winner’s placements. The student filmmakers will be brought to Los Angeles for a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 12, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. One student filmmaker from the United Kingdom also has been selected to receive this year’s Honorary Foreign Film award.
The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title within category):
Alternative:
“Multiply,” Emily Henricks, University of Southern California
“Surface: Film from Below,” Varathit Uthaisri, Parsons The New School for Design, New York
Animation:
“Departure of Love,” Jennifer Bors, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
“Dried Up,” Isaiah Powers and Jeremy Casper, Kansas City Art Institute, Missouri
“Lifeline,” Andres Salaff, California Institute of the Arts
Documentary:
“Dreams Awake (Suena Despierto),” Kevin Gordon and Rebekah Meredith, Stanford University, California
“Rediscovering Pape,” Maria Royo, City College of New York
“Yizkor (Remembrance),” Ruth Fertig, University of Texas at Austin
Narrative :
“Down in Number 5,” Kim Spurlock, New York University
“God of Love,” Luke Matheny, New York University
“The Lunch Box,” Lubomir Kocka, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
Honorary Foreign Film:
“The Confession,” Tanel Toom, The National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield, United Kingdom
While U.S. winners know they will each receive an award, their placement – Gold, Silver or Bronze – will not be revealed until the June 12 ceremony. Gold Medal award winners receive cash grants of $5,000, Silver Medal award winners receive $3,000 and Bronze Medal award winners receive $2,000. The Honorary Foreign Film winner receives a $1,000 cash grant. The U.S. students first competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region was permitted to send as many as three finalist films in each of four award categories. Academy members then screened the finalists’ films and voted to select the winners. “The Confession,” the Honorary Foreign Film winner, was selected from a pool of 61 entries representing 36 countries.
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 40 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared seven awards. At the 82nd Academy Awards earlier this year, Pete Docter, who earned a Student Academy Award in 1992, took home the Oscar for Animated Feature Film for “Up.” He also earned a nomination for the original screenplay for the film. Additionally, Gregg Helvey, a 2009 Student Academy Award winner, received his first Oscar nomination in the Live Action Short Film category for “Kavi.” The 37th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony on June 12 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required.