Student Academy Award Winners For 2017 Announced

The winners of the 44th Student Academy Awards have been announced with 17 students being honored for their work. This year, 1,587 entries were received for the competition and out of those, 267 were from domestic college and universities while 89 were international.  The entries were voted on by a record number of Academy members.

All the winning films are eligible to compete for 2017 Oscars in the Animated Short Film or Live Action Short Film category and 2018 Oscars in the Documentary Short Subject category. This year, one 2016 gold medal winner, Daphne Matziaraki, received an Oscar nod in the Documentary Short Subject category for “4.1 Miles.”

The ceremony will take place at 7:30 PM on  October 12, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.  The medal placements – gold, silver, and bronze – in the seven award categories will be announced at the ceremony.

This year’s  competition has expanded to allow two options for students at international film schools to submit their films. In addition to CILECT-member schools submitting one student film per international film school category, international students may now enter films that qualify through film festivals recognized by the Student Academy Awards Executive Committee.

The winners will join the ranks of an impressive list of past winners that include Patricia Cardoso, Pete Docter, Cary Fukunaga, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis. The complete list of winners can be read below.

Alternative (Domestic Film Schools)
“Opera of Cruelty,” Max R. A. Fedore, New York University

Animation (Domestic Film Schools)
“Cradle,” Devon Manney, University of Southern California
“E-delivery,” Young Gul Cho, School of Visual Arts
“In a Heartbeat,” Beth David and Esteban Bravo, Ringling College of Art and Design

Documentary (Domestic Film Schools)
“Hale,” Brad Bailey, University of California, Berkeley
“On Pointe,” Priscilla Thompson and Joy Jihyun Jeong, Columbia University
“One Way Home,” Qingzi Fan, New York University

Narrative (Domestic Film Schools)
“Mammoth,” Ariel Heller, University of Southern California
“My Nephew Emmett,” Kevin Wilson, Jr., New York University
“Who’s Who in Mycology,” Marie Dvorakova, New York University

Narrative (International Film Schools) 
“Facing Mecca,” Jan-Eric Mack, Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland)
“Watu Wote/All of Us,” Katja Benrath, Hamburg Media School (Germany)
“When Grey is a Colour,” Marit Weerheijm, Netherlands Film Academy (Netherlands)

Animation (International Film Schools)
“Life Smartphone,” Chenglin Xie, China Central Academy of Fine Arts (China)

Documentary (International Film Schools)
“Galamsey,” Johannes Preuss, Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg (Germany)