BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Thirty-eight students from 17 U.S. colleges and universities as well as nine students from foreign universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 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 on Saturday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. 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 and
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.
The 40th Student Academy Awards ceremony on June 8 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. Tickets are available now online at
www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office, or by mail. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.
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