Beverly Hills, Calif. - Five finalists, selected from a record 61 entries from 36 countries, will continue to compete for the 2010 Honorary Foreign Film award in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 37th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. The winning student filmmaker will be brought to Los Angeles to join U.S.-based Student Academy Award winners for a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 12, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):
“The Confession,” Tanel Toom, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
“Janna & Liv,” Therese Ahlbeck, Dramatiska Institutet, Sweden
“The Night Father Christmas Died,” Martin Schreier, Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
“The Road Home,” Rahul Gandotra, London Film School, United Kingdom
“Trieste Is Ours,” Ziga Virc, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Several past winners in the Honorary Foreign Film competition have gone on to earn further recognition from the Academy. Reto Caffi, a winner in 2008, received a nomination in the Live Action Short Film category for his film “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” at the 81st Academy Awards. In 2005, at the 78th Academy Awards, student winner Ulrike Grote’s “Ausreisser (The Runaway)” was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category. At the 75th Academy Awards, student winner Martin Strange-Hansen of Denmark won the Oscar® in the Live Action Short Film category for “This Charming Man (Der Er En Yndig Mand).” 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 with “Quiero Ser (I want to be).”
Two other previous winners, Jan Sverak, who was a student in the former Czechoslovakia, and Mike van Diem of The Netherlands, went on to direct films that won Oscars in the Foreign Language Film category.
The 37th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony on June 12 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. 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.