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