Five finalists, selected from 52 entries from 32 countries, will advance in the Foreign Student Film category in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 38th Annual Student Academy Awards competition.  Up to three winners, to be selected from this group, 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 11, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The 2011 Foreign Student Film finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):
“Bekas,” Karzan Kader, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden
“GraffiTiger,” Libor Pixa, Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), Czech Republic
“The Miserables,” Ben Taylor Wheatley, University of Westminster, United Kingdom
“Raju,” Max Zaehle, Hamburg Media School, Germany
“Tuba Atlantic,” Hallvar Witzo, Norwegian Film School, Norway

Several past winners in the Honorary Foreign Film competition, as the category was previously known, have gone on to earn further recognition from the Academy.  The 2010 Honorary Foreign Film award winner, Tanel Toom, was a nominee at the 83rd Academy Awards in the Live Action Short Film category for “The Confession.”  Reto Caffi, a winner in 2008, received a nomination in the Live Action Short Film category for “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 student winners, Jan Sverak of the former Czechoslovakia, and Mike van Diem of The Netherlands, went on to direct films that won Oscars® in the Foreign Language Film category.

[ via AMPAS ]