There is the Academy Awards, and there is the Student Academy Awards, all supported by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level; past winners include John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, Trey Parker and Spike Lee. This year thirty-eight students from 17 U.S. colleges and universities as well as nine students from foreign universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards competition. 

The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):

Alternative
“Beyond the Spheres,” Meghdad Asadi Lari, Rochester Institute of Technology
“Bottled Up,” Rafael Cortina, Occidental College
“Bye Hyungjik,” Hyungjik Lee, Florida State University
“The Compositor,” John Mattiuzzi, School of Visual Arts
“File Not Found,” Maria Sequeira, University of Southern California
“The Pirate of Love,” Sara Gunnarsdottir, California Institute of the Arts
“Zug,” Perry Janes, University of Michigan

Animation
“Couch & Potatoes,” Chris Lam and Eunsoo Jeong, San Jose State University
“Dia de los Muertos,” Lindsey St. Pierre and Ashley Graham, Ringling College of Art and Design
“Drifters,” Ethan Clarke, California Institute of the Arts
“Make a Wish,” Heejin Kim, School of Visual Arts
“Peck Pocketed,” Kevin Herron, Ringling College of Art and Design
“Runaway,” Emily Buchanan and Esther Parobek, Ringling College of Art and Design
“Still I Breathe,” Sang Ho Lee, School of Visual Arts
“Watercolors,” Robert Kornstein, New York University
“Will,” Eusong Lee, California Institute of the Arts

Documentary
“The Battle of the Jazz Guitarist,” Mark Columbus, University of California, Los Angeles
“Every Tuesday: A Portrait of The New Yorker Cartoonists,” Rachel Loube, School of Visual Arts
“Everybody’s Business,” Laura Green, Stanford University
“Graceland Girls,” Jordan Theresa Salvatoriello, Emerson College
“A Second Chance,” David Aristizabal, University of Southern California
“Through the Fire,” Eunice Lau, New York University
“Vultures of Tibet,” Russell O. Bush, University of Texas at Austin
“Win or Lose,” Daniel Koehler, Elon University
“Wonder Workshop,” Amitabh Joshi and Erik Spink, School of Visual Arts

Narrative
“Caught,” Bruce Li, New York University
“Cootie Contagion,” Joshua Smooha, Florida State University
“Footsteps,” Thomas (Hyungkyun) Kim, New York University
“Josephine and the Roach,” Jonathan Langager, University of Southern California
“Kalifornija,” Tomas Vengris, American Film Institute
“The Midwife’s Husband,” Deja Bernhardt, University of Texas at Austin
“Ol’ Daddy,” Brian Schwarz, University of Texas at Austin
“Samnang,” Asaph Polonsky, American Film Institute
“Un Mundo para Raúl (A World for Raúl),” Mauro Mueller, Columbia University

Foreign Film
“Erbgut (Liquidation),” Matthias Zuder, Hamburg Media School, Germany
“För Sverige i Tiden (King of Sweden),” Jonas Westbom, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden
“Kanyekanye,” Miklas Manneke, AFDA The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and 
Live Performance, South Africa
“The Library of Burned Books,” Alasdair Beckett-King, London Film School, United Kingdom
“Miss Todd,” Kristina Yee, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
“MO,” Jakub Kouril, FAMU, Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic
“Parvaneh,”Talkhon Hamzavi, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
“To Guard a Mountain,” Izer Aliu, The Norwegian Filmschool, Norway
“Tweesprong (Crossroads),” Wouter Bouvijn, Rits School of Arts, Erasmus College Brussels, Belgium

The 40th Student Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

image: credit: Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.

39th Annual Student Academy Awards Winners

Front row (left to right): Amanda Tasse, Ellen Tripler, Heather Burky, Mark Raso, Thomas Stuber and Justin Tipping.

Back row (left to right): David Wolter, David Winstone Elmar Imanov, Keiko Wright, Eric Prah, Ryan Prows and Mark Nelson.