38th Annual Student Academy Awards U.S Finalists Announced

Beverly Hills, CA – 33 students from 22 U.S. colleges and universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 38th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Academy members will view the finalists’ films at special screenings and vote to select the winners. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash grants of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000, respectively, may be presented in each of four categories: Alternative, Animation, Documentary and Narrative. The winning 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 11, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):

Alternative
“Bitter,” Vlad Korishev, the Art Institute of California – San Francisco
“The Dust Machine,” Damon Mohl, University of Colorado, Boulder
“The Vermeers,” Tal S. Shamir, The New School, New York
“Unreal City,” Bryan Bykowicz, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Animation
“The Birds Upstairs,” Christopher Jarvis, New York University
“Correspondence,” Zach Hyer, Pratt Institute, New York
“Defective Detective,” Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
“Dragonboy,” Bernardo Warman, Academy of Art University, California
“The Girl and the Fox,” Tyler Kupferer, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
“Heart,” Erick Oh, University of California, Los Angeles
“The Renter,” Jason Carpenter, California Institute of the Arts
“Swing,” Yen-Ting Kuo, School of Visual Arts, New York
“Treasure,” Chelsea Bartlett, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida

Documentary
“After,” Jeremy Cohen, The New School, New York
“Civil Indigent,” Nicholas Corrao and David Hafter, University of Florida
“Feast & Sacrifice,” Clare Major, University of California, Berkeley
“Imaginary Circumstances,” Anthony Weeks, Stanford University
“Shape of the Shapeless,” Jayan Cherian, City College of New York
“Sin Pais (Without Country),” Theo Rigby, Stanford University, California
“This is Us: Video Stories from Senegalese Youth,” Jeremy Teicher, Dartmouth College
“The Time Machine,” Mark Kendall, School of Visual Arts, New York
“Vera Klement: Blunt Edge,” Wonjung Bae, Columbia College Chicago

Narrative
“The Candidate,” David Karlak, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
“Fatakra,” Soham Mehta, University of Texas at Austin
“Flagpole,” Matt Kazman, New York University
“High Maintenance,” Shawn Wines, Columbia University
“Le Jeu des Soldats,” Lorne Hiltser, American Film Institute, California
“My First Claire,” Lou Howe, American Film Institute, California
“Snovi,” Reshad Kulenovic, Boston University
“Thief,” Julian Higgins, American Film Institute, California
“The Wind Is Blowing on My Street,” Saba Riazi, New York University

To reach this stage, 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. For the first time this year, up to three films may be honored in the Foreign Student Film category. Academy members have selected students from the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom as finalists.

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 43 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards.  At the 83rd Academy Awards earlier this year, 2010 Student Academy Award winner Luke Matheny took home the Oscar for Live Action Short Film for “God of Love.” Tanel Toom, another 2010 Student Academy Award winner, also was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category for “The Confession,” and John Lasseter, a 1979 and 1980 Student Academy Award winner, was a nominee in the Adapted Screenplay category for “Toy Story 3.”

The 38th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony on June 11 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. Tickets will be available on May 2. Tickets may be obtained 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.

ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards “in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners” the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

FOLLOW THE ACADEMY
www.oscars.org
www.facebook.com/TheAcademy
www.youtube.com/Oscars
www.twitter.com/TheAcademy