Student Academy Awards: Winners & Paul Mazursky + Indian Film Academy Winners

Pajama Gladiator (top)

The final order of the winners of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2009 Student Academy Awards – gold, silver, and bronze medal recipients – was announced earlier this evening at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Actor Gary Oldman, director John Landis, animator Andreas Deja, and Academy first vice president Robert Rehme took part in the ceremony.

The winners are:

Alternative*
Gold Medal: Alice’s Attic, Robyn Yannoukos, University of California, Los Angeles
Silver Medal: Matter, in a Quiescent State, Prepares Itself to Be Transformed, Kwibum Chung, School of Visual Arts, New York
* Only two medals were awarded in the Alternative category.

Animation
Gold Medal: Pajama Gladiator, Glenn Harmon, Brigham Young University
Silver Medal: Sebastian’s Voodoo, Joaquin Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles
Bronze Medal: Kites, Jed Henry, Brigham Young University

Documentary
Gold Medal: The Last Mermaids, Liz Chae, Columbia University
Silver Medal: The Wait, Cassandra Lizaire and Kelly Asmuth, Columbia University
Bronze Medal: A Place to Land, Lauren DeAngelis, American University, Washington, D.C.

Narrative
Gold Medal: Kavi, Gregg Helvey, University of Southern California
Silver Medal: The Bronx Balletomane, Jeremy Joffee, The City College of New York
Bronze Medal: Bohemibot, Brendan Bellomo, New York University

Honorary Foreign Film
Elkland, Per Hanefjord, Dramatiska Institutet, Sweden

Don’t be surprised if one or more of the above titles end up in the list of short-film nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards.

Matter, in a Quiescent State, Prepares Itself to Be Transformed (top); Sebastian’s Voodoo (2nd from top); A Place to Land (2nd from bottom); Bohemibot (bottom)

The 2009 Student Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will be held on Saturday, June 13, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

Twelve students from eight U.S. colleges and universities have been named winners in the competition. One film student from Sweden has been voted the Honorary Foreign Film Award.

The U.S. winners know they will each receive an award, but their placement – Gold, Silver or Bronze – will be revealed only at the June 13 ceremony. Gold Medal winners receive cash grants of $5,000, Silver Medal winners receive $3,000, and Bronze Medal winners receive $2,000. The Honorary Foreign Film winner will receive a $1,000 cash grant.

The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title within category):

Alternative
Alice’s Attic, Robyn Yannoukos, University of California, Los Angeles
Matter in a Quiescent State, Prepares Itself to Be Transformed, Kwibum Chung, School of Visual Arts, New York

Animation
Kites, Jed Henry, Brigham Young University
Pajama Gladiator, Glenn Harmon, Brigham Young University
Sebastian’s Voodoo, Joaquin Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles

Documentary
The Last Mermaids, Liz Chae, Columbia University
A Place to Land, Lauren DeAngelis, American University, Washington, D.C.
The Wait, Cassandra Lizaire and Kelly Asmuth, Columbia University

Narrative
Bohemibot, Brendan Bellomo, New York University
The Bronx Balletomane, Jeremy Joffee, City College of New York
Kavi, Gregg Helvey, University of Southern California

Honorary Foreign Film
Elkland, Per Hanefjord, Dramatiska Institutet, Sweden

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.

Elkland, the Honorary Foreign Film winner, was selected from a pool of 57 entries representing 39 countries.

The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 “to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.” As per the Academy’s press release, 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 nominated for the 2009 Academy Awards: Pete Docter, who earned a Student Academy Award in 1992, received his fourth nomination for the Original Screenplay for WALL-E, while Reto Caffi, last year’s Honorary Foreign Film award winner, received his first nomination for the live action short film Auf der Strecke (On the Line).

Several past winners in the Honorary Foreign Film competition have gone on to garner Oscar wins and nominations. At the 78th Academy Awards, Ulrike Grote’s The Runaway / Ausreisser was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category. Three years earlier, Martin Strange-Hansen of Denmark won the Oscar in the Live Action Short Film category for This Charming Man. He had won the Honorary Foreign Film award that same year (2002) with Feeding Desire.

In 2000, Florian Gallenberger of Germany won both the Honorary Foreign Film award and the Oscar in the Live Action Short Film category for Quiero Ser. Two other previous winners, Jan Sverak, who was a student in the former Czechoslovakia, and Mike van Diem of The Netherlands, have gone on to direct films that won Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category for, respectively, Kolya and Karakter.

Tickets for the 2009 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.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2009 Student Academy Award winners and members of the Board of Governors on Friday, June 12, in Beverly Hills.

Front row (left to right): winner Cassandra Lizaire, winner Kelly Asmuth, winner Liz Chae, winner Lauren DeAngelis, winner Robyn Yannoukos, winner Per Hanefjord, Richard Pearce and Paul Mazursky.

Second row (left to right): Mark Goldblatt, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Martha Coolidge, Owen Roizman, Rosemary Brandenburg, winner Gregg Helvey and winner Jeremy Joffee.

Third row (left to right): Don Hall, Marvin Levy, Bill Taylor, Leonard Engelman, Academy Vice President Robert Rehme, Curt Behlmer, Frank Pierson and Richard Edlund.

Back row (left to right): Jon Bloom, Carl Bell, Arthur Hamilton, winner Jed Henry, winner Joaquin Baldwin, winner Kwibum Chung, winner Glenn Harmon and winner Brendan Bellomo.

Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.

2009 International Indian Film Academy Awards

2009 IIFA winners: Macau on June 13.

(“*” denotes the winner in each category)

Starring Bollywood icons Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar tells the story of a Muslim emperor who marries a Hindu princess in 16th-century India. Jodhaa Akbar was the big winner at the 2009 IIFA Awards, bagging 11 trophies including best picture, best director, best actor, and best music (A. R. Rahman).

POPULAR AWARDS

Best Picture
A Wednesday
Dostana
Ghajini
* Jodhaa Akbar
Race
Rock On !!

Best Director
A.R. Murugadoss – Ghajini
Madhur Bhandarkar – Fashion
Abhishek Kapoor – Rock On !!
* Ashutosh Gowariker – Jodhaa Akbar
Neeraj Pandey – A Wednesday

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Aamir Khan – Ghajini
Abhishek Bachchan – Dostana
* Hrithik Roshan – Jodhaa Akbar
Naseeruddin Shah – A Wednesday
Shahrukh Khan – Rab Ne Bana di Jodi

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Jodhaa Akbar
Asin – Ghajini
Bipasha Basu – Race
Katrina Kaif – Singh Is Kinng
* Priyanka Chopra – Fashion

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Abhishek Bachchan – Sarkar Raj
* Arjun Rampal – Rock On !!
Irrfan Khan – Mumbai Meri Jaan
Sonu Sood – Jodhaa Akbar
Vinay Pathak – Rab Ne Bana di Jodi

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Bipasha Basu – Bachna Ae Haseeno
Ila Arun – Jodhaa Akbar
* Kangana Ranawat – Fashion
Kirron Kher – Dostana
Shahana Goswami – Rock On !!

Best Performance in a Negative Role
* Akshaye Khanna – Race
Imran Khan – Kidnap
Paresh Rawal – Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Pradeep Rawat – Ghajini
Visswa Badola – Jodhaa Akbar

Best Performance in a Comic Role
* Abhishek Bachchan – Dostana
Anil Kapoor – Race
Rajpal Yadav – Bhoothnath
Shreyas Talpade – Welcome To Sajjanpur
Tejpal Singh – Jodhaa Akbar
Tushar Kapoor – Golmaal Returns

Best Story
Abhishek Kapoor – Rock On !!
Haidar Ali – Jodhaa Akbar
Madhur Bhandarkar, Anuradha Tewari and Ajay Monga – Fashion
* Neeraj Pandey – A Wednesday
Shiraz Ahmed – Race

Best Music Direction
A. R. Rahman – Ghajini
* A. R. Rahman – Jodhaa Akbar
Pritam – Race
Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy – Rock On !!
Vishal Shekhar – Dostana

Best Lyrics
Anvita Dutt Guptan – Khuda Jaane – Bachna Ae Haseeno
Jaideep Sahni – Haule Haule – Rab Ne Bana di Jodi
* Javed Akhtar – Jashan-e-Baharaa Jodhaa Akbar
Javed Akhtar – Socha hai – Rock On !!
Sameer – Pehli Nazar Mein – Race

Best Male Playback Singer
Atif Aslam – Pehli Nazar Mein – Race
Farhan Akhtar – Socha hai – Rock On !!
* Javed Ali – Jashan-e-Baharaa – Jodhaa Akbar
KK- Khuda Jaane – Bachna Ae Haseeno
Sukhwinder Singh – Haule Haule – Rab Ne Bana di Jodi

Best Female Playback Singer
Bela Shinde – Man Mohana – Jodhaa Akbar
Monali- Zara Zara Touch Me Race
Shilpa Rao- Khuda Jaane – Bachna Ae Haseeno
* Shreya Ghoshal- Teri Ore – Singh Is Kinng
Sunidhi Chauhan- Desi Girl – Dostana

TECHNICAL AWARDS

Best Screenplay: Neeraj Pandey, A Wednesday

Best Dialogue: Manu Rishi, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye

Best Cinematography: Jason West, Rock On !!

Best Editing: Ballu Saluja, Jodhaa Akbar

Best Background Score: A. R. Rahman, Jodhaa Akbar

Best Art Direction: Nitin Chandrakant Desai, Jodhaa Akbar

Best Costume Design: Neeta Lulla, Jodhaa Akbar

Best Visual Special Effects: Prime Focus, Ghajini

Best Song Recording: Purple Haze, Rock On !!

Best Sound Recording: Resul Pookutty and Amrit, Ghajini

Best Sound Rerecording: Leslie Fernandes, Race

Best Action: Peter Heins and Stun Siva, Ghajini

Best Choreography: Farah Khan for “Desi Girl,” Dostana

Best Make Up: Madhav Kadam, Jodhaa Akbar

Lifetime Achievement Award: Rajesh Khanna

Picture of the Decade: Lagaan

Director of the Decade: Rakesh Roshan

Actor of the Decade: Shah Rukh Khan

Actress of the Decade: Aishwarya Rai

Music of the Decade: A.R. Rahman

Note: Winners of the Popular Categories are chosen by the public, who vote on the nominees selected by the International Indian Film Academy. Technical Categories have no nominations; the winners are chosen by the International Indian Film Academy.