The Academy has voted 19 students as winners of the Student Academy Awards 45th competition. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,582 entries from 278 domestic and 122 international colleges and universities, which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members.
The 2018 winners join the ranks of such past Student Academy Award winners as Patricia Cardoso, Pete Docter, Cary Fukunaga, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis.
The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):
Alternative (Domestic Film Schools)
Shae Demandt, “Reanimated,” Florida State University
Animation (Domestic Film Schools)
Yu Yu, “Daisy,” University of Southern California
Hanna Kim, “Raccoon and the Light,” California Institute of the Arts
Eaza Shukla, “Re-Gifted,” Ringling College of Art and Design
Animation (International Film Schools)
Pierre Perveyrie, Maximilien Bougeois, Marine Goalard, Irina Nguyen-Duc and Quentin Dubois, “The Green Bird,” MOPA
Documentary (Domestic Film Schools)
Mathieu Faure, “An Edited Life,” New York University
Lauren Schwartzman, “Dust Rising,” University of California, Berkeley
Yiying Li, “Love & Loss,” University of Southern California
Documentary (International Film Schools)
Mart Bira, “Nomadic Doctor,” University of Hertfordshire
Narrative (Domestic Film Schools)
Brian Robau, “Esta Es Tu Cuba”/“This Is Your Cuba,” Chapman University
Kelley Kali, “Lalo’s House,” University of Southern California
Hua Tong, “Spring Flower,” University of Southern California
Narrative (International Film Schools)
István Kovács, “A Siege,” University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest
Lisa Gertsch, “Almost Everything,” Zurich University of the Arts
Jonatan Etzler, “Get Ready with Me,” Stockholm Academy of the Arts
This year, the Student Academy Awards honors one returning winner in the Domestic Narrative category, Brian Robau, a Silver Medal winner in 2016 for “It’s Just a Gun.”
Additionally, for the first time, a team of five directors is being honored in the International Animation category. Previously the limit had been two directors that could be honored per film.
All Student Academy Award-winning films are eligible to compete for 2018 Oscars in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Documentary Short Subject category. Past winners have gone on to receive 59 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 11 awards.
This past year two 2017 Student Academy Award winners received Oscar nominations in the Live Action Short Film category: Kevin Wilson, Jr., a Gold Medal winner in the Domestic Narrative category for “My Nephew Emmett,” and Katja Benrath, a Gold Medal winner in the International Narrative category for “Watu Wote/All of Us.”
Students will arrive in Los Angeles for a week of industry activities that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Thursday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m., 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.
The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work.
