Sebastian's Voodoo (top), The Last Mermaids (middle), Bohemibot (bottom)
Thirty-six students from 20 US colleges and universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2009 Student Academy Awards competition. Academy members will pick the winners after watching the competing films at special screenings.
Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000, respectively, may be presented in each of the four categories below. The winners will later take part in a week of industry-related and social activities, including the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 13, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):
Alternative
Alice's Attic, Robyn Yanoukos, University of California, Los Angeles
Breathe, Sean Conaty and John Thompson, University of Southern California
Matter, In Quiescent State Prepares Itself to be Transformed (above), Kwibum Chung, School of Visual Arts, New York
Subconscious, Jason Chen, University of the Arts, Pennsylvania
Thirty-One Thousand Feet Above, Imran Shafi, University of Southern California
Animation
Cadillac '59, Hamilton Lewis, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
Divers, Paris Mavroidis, Pratt Institute, New York
Entering the Mind through the Mouth, Jin Sung Choi, Academy of Art University, California
I Live in the Woods, Max Winston, California Institute of the Arts
Kites, Jud Henry, Brigham Young University
Lilium Urbanus (above), Joji Tsuruga and Anca Risca, School of Visual Arts
Pajama Gladiator, Glenn Harmon, Brigham Young University
Scrimshander, George Smaragdis, Pratt Institute
Sebastian's Voodoo (top, upper photo), Joaquin Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles
Documentary
Close to Home, Theo Rigby, Stanford University
In Circles, Emile Bokaer and Alaa Eldin El Dajani, Stanford University
The Last Mermaids (top, middle photo), Liz Chae, Columbia University
Nutkin's Last Stand (above), Nicholas Berger, Stanford University
A Place to Land, Lauren DeAngelis, American University, Washington, D.C.
Sustaining Life, Robert Hess, Savannah College of Art and Design
Three Pilots, Philip Leaman, University of Michigan
The Wait, Cassandra Lizaire and Kelly Asmuth, Columbia University
Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story, Louis Lapat, Columbia University
Narrative
After the Storm, Michael Green, Florida State University
Bohemibot (top, lower photo), Brendan Bellomo, New York University
The Bronx Balletomane (above), Jeremy Joffee, City College of New York
Ida y Vuelta (Round Trip), David Martin-Porras, University of California, Los Angeles
Kavi, Gregg Helvey, University of Southern California
1915, Marco Garcia, University of North Carolina
Short Term 12, Destin Cretton, San Diego State University
Transposition, Joshua Overbay, Regent University, Virginia
Una y Otra Vez, Antonio Mendez, Columbia University
As per the Academy's press release, "to reach this stage, students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region is permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalist films in each of the four categories." Additionally, a film by a student attending a foreign university or school will be chosen as the 2009 Honorary Foreign Film.
The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 37 Oscar nominations and have won or shared six awards. Two former Student Academy Award winners were nominees at the 2009 Academy Awards: Pete Docter received his fourth nomination for the original screenplay for WALL-E, and Honorary Foreign Film award winner Reto Caffi got his first nomination for the live action short film Auf der Strecke (On the Line).
Tickets for the 36th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony, at which the Gold Medal-winning films and the Honorary Foreign Film will be screened in their entirety, are free and available now. A maximum of four tickets may be requested online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office, by mail, or by calling the Student Academy Awards department at (310) 247-3000, ext. 130. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 13, at 6 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Doors open at 5 p.m. All seating is unreserved.