2008 Student Academy Award® Winners Honored in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills, CA – Twelve students from nine colleges and universities were honored tonight (June 7) as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 35th Annual Student Academy Awards® competition. For several days, they had participated in a slate of industry-related activities and social events culminating in the awards ceremony, which featured as presenters Oscar®-nominated writer-director Jason Reitman, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, former Student Academy Award winner and Emmy®-winning director Todd Holland, and Academy President Sid Ganis at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The 2008 winners are:

Honorary Foreign Film
“On the Line (Auf der Strecke),” Reto Caffi, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany

Alternative*
Gold Medal: “Viola: The Traveling Rooms of a Little Giant,” Shih-Ting Hung, University of Southern California
Silver Medal: “Circles of Confusion,” Phoebe Tooke, San Francisco State University
*Only two medals were awarded in the Alternative category.

Animation
Gold Medal: “Zoologic,” Nicole Mitchell, California Institute of the Arts
Silver Medal: “Simulacra,” Tatchapon Lertwirojkul, The School of Visual Arts, New York
Bronze Medal: “The Visionary,” Evan Mayfield, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida

Documentary
Gold Medal: “As We Forgive,” Laura Waters Hinson, American University, Washington, D.C.
Silver Medal: “Unattached,” J.J. Adler, Columbia University
Bronze Medal: “If a Body Meet a Body,” Brian Davis, University of Southern California

Narrative
Gold Medal: “A Day’s Work,” Rajeev Dassani, University of Southern California
Silver Medal: “The State of Sunshine,” Z. Eric Yang, Florida State University
Bronze Medal: “Pitstop,” Melanie McGraw, University of Southern California

While the U.S. winners knew they would each receive an award, the level of that award – Gold, Silver or Bronze – was not revealed until the ceremony. Besides trophies, Gold Medal recipients received $5,000, Silver Medal recipients were awarded $3,000 and Bronze Medal recipients were awarded $2,000. The Honorary Foreign Film winner received $1,000 in addition to the trophy.

The U.S. students first competed in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions was permitted to send as many as three finalist films in each of the four award categories. Academy members then screened the films and voted to select the winners.

“On the Line (Auf der Strecke),” the Honorary Foreign Film winner, was selected from a pool of 43 submissions, representing foreign colleges and universities in 29 countries.

The Academy established Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Among past winners who have gone on to prominent careers as filmmakers are Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis, John Lasseter and Trey Parker. In 2007 two former Student Academy Award winners received Oscar® nominations: James Longley earned his second nomination for the Documentary Short Subject “Sari’s Mother,” and Amanda Micheli received her first nomination for “La Corona (The Crown)” with Isabel Vega. Over the years, former Student Academy Award winners have garnered a total of 35 Oscar nominations and have won or shared six awards.