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Winners Announced and Finalists Selected for Student Academy Awards®
Beverly Hills, CA - Eleven film students from eight U.S. universities were honored yesterday (June 9) as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 29th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. The winners participated in several days of industry-related activities and social events prior to the awards presentation ceremony at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. A film student from Denmark also was honored by the Academy, receiving this year's Honorary Foreign Film Award.
Actor Michael McKean Presented the Gold Medal Student Academy Award in the Narrative Category to New York University student Jessica Sharzer
ollowing are this year's winners (alphabetical by film title within category):
 Alternative Category 
Gold medal: For Our Man by Kazuo Ohno
Columbia University, New York
Silver medal: Island to Island by Soopum Sohn
New York University, New York
 Animation Category 
Gold medal: Passing Moments by Don Phillips Jr.
Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida

Silver medal: The Velvet Tigress by Jen Sachs
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

Bronze medal: Shadowplay by Dan Blank
New York University, New York

 Documentary Category 
Gold medal: Moving House by Pin Pin Tan
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Silver medal: Family Values by Eva Saks
New York University, New York

Bronze medal: Revolutions Per Minute by Thomas Burns
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

 Narrative Category 
Gold medal: The Wormhole by Jessica Sharzer
New York University, New York

Silver medal: Barrier Device by Grace Lee
University of California, Los Angeles

Silver medal: Sophie by Helen Haeyoung Lee
University of Texas at Austin

 Honorary Foreign Film 
Feeding Desire by Martin Strange-Hansen
National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen
While the U.S.-based students knew they would each receive an award, the level of that award - gold, silver or bronze - was not revealed until the ceremony. Besides trophies, gold medal winners receive $5,000; silver medal winners are awarded $3,000 and bronze medal winners take home $2,000.


Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Freida Lee Mock presented the awards in the documentary category; Oscar(R)-nominated screenwriter Alexander Payne presented the Honorary Foreign Film Award and the medals in the alternative category and Actors Branch member Michael McKean served as presenter for the narrative and animation categories.


These students first competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region was permitted to send the Academy as many as three films in each of the four categories. The finalist films were then screened and voted on by Academy members to select the winners.


The Honorary Foreign Film winner, who received a $1,000 cash grant, was selected from a pool of 33 entries from 23 countries. This is the third time a student from the National Film School of Denmark has won this award. Reza Parsa won in 1996 for his film "Never," and in 1983, Ingrid Oustrup Jensen received the award for her film "Over My Dead Body."


The Student Academy Awards were established by the Academy in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.
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Finalists Selected for Student Academy Awards®

Beverly Hills, CA - Thirty-two students from 18 colleges and universities around the country have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 29th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Their films will be voted upon by Academy members and those students ultimately selected as winners will be flown to Los Angeles to participate in a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate June 9 with the awards presentation ceremony at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The finalists are (alphabetical by film title within category):
 Alternative Category 
"Birju," Heeraz Marfatia, San Francisco State University 
"Counterfeit Film," Brett Simon, University of California, Berkeley 
"For Our Man," Kazuo Ohno, Columbia University, New York 
"From Island to Island," Soopum Sohn, New York University 
"Interlude," Elizabeth Randall, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle 
"Legalized America," Michael Ball, Boston University 
"Newton," Peter Sattler and Jeff Mason, North Carolina School of the Arts,Winston-Salem 
 Animation Category 
"Ash Sunday," Corrie Francis, Dartmouth College, Hanover,New Hampshire 
"Blind Date," Chris Choy, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia 
"Floating," Chansoo Kim, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 
"Gladden," Ian Butterfield, Ohio State University, Columbus 
"Passing Moments," Don Phillips, Jr., Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida 
"Shadowplay," Dan Blank, New York University 
"Trilemma," Ye Won Cho, School of Visual Arts, New York 
"The Velvet Tigress," Jen Sachs, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
 Documentary Category 
"Back to Back," Heather Lenz, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 
"Become the Sky," Laura Dunn, University of Texas at Austin 
"Family Values," Eva Saks, New York University 
"Moving House," Pin Pin Tan, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 
"Precipice," Elizabeth Witham and Biz James, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 
"Revolutions Per Minute," Thomas Burns, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 
 Narrative Category 
"Barrier Device," Grace Lee, University of California, Los Angeles 
"Get Outta Here," Tony Shaff, North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem 
"Mboutoukou," Victor Viyuoh, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 
"Remote Control," Ivan Zivkovic and Peter Veverka, American Film Institute, Los Angeles 
"Slo-Mo," John Krokidas, New York University 
"Sophie," Helen Haeyoung Lee, University of Texas at Austin 
"Train Wreck," Michael Sedlacek, Columbia University, New York 
"The Wormhole," Jessica Sharzer, New York University 
To reach this stage, students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions was permitted to send the Academy up to three finalist films in each of the four categories. Academy members may now choose to present awards to as many as three films in each of the categories. Along with their trophies, Gold Medal winners in each of the four categories receive $5,000; Silver Medal winners take home $3,000 and Bronze Medal recipients are awarded $2,000. An Honorary Foreign Film Award, which includes a $1,000 cash grant, also will be presented. Finalists for that award this year are individual students from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden.

The Student Academy Awards were established by the Academy in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.
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