BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Sixteen students from colleges and universities around the world were honored recently as winners at the 40th Student Academy Awards ceremony at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The medal placements were announced at the ceremony hosted by writer-director and 1978 Student Academy Award winner Bob Saget. Writer-director Kimberly Peirce and actors Clark Gregg, Jason Schwartzman and Quvenzhané Wallis presented the awards.
The winners are:
Alternative
- Gold Medal: "Bottled Up," Rafael Cortina, Occidental College
- Silver Medal: "Zug," Perry Janes, University of Michigan
- Bronze Medal: "The Compositor," John Mattiuzzi, School of Visual Arts
Animation
- Gold Medal: "Dia de los Muertos," Lindsey St. Pierre and Ashley Graham, Ringling College of Art and Design
- Silver Medal: "Will," Eusong Lee, California Institute of the Arts
- Bronze Medal: "Peck Pocketed," Kevin Herron, Ringling College of Art and Design
Documentary
- Gold Medal: "A Second Chance," David Aristizabal, University of Southern California
- Silver Medal: "Every Tuesday: A Portrait of The New Yorker Cartoonists," Rachel Loube, School of Visual Arts
- Bronze Medal: "Win or Lose," Daniel Koehler, Elon University
Narrative
- Gold Medal: "Ol' Daddy," Brian Schwarz, University of Texas at Austin
- Silver Medal: "Josephine and the Roach," Jonathan Langager, University of Southern California
- Bronze Medal: "Un Mundo para Raúl (A World for Raúl)," Mauro Mueller, Columbia University
Foreign Film
- Gold Medal: "Miss Todd," Kristina Yee, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
- Silver Medal: "Parvaneh," Talkhon Hamzavi, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
- Bronze Medal: "Tweesprong (Crossroads)," Wouter Bouvijn, RITS School of Arts, Erasmus University College Brussels, Belgium
This year saw first-time honors go to Elon University, Occidental College and the University of Michigan in the U.S. competition, as well as to Zurich University of the Arts and RITS School of Arts, Erasmus University College Brussels, in the foreign competition.
The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight awards. The roster includes such distinguished filmmakers as John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, Trey Parker and Spike Lee.